Singapore trade with ASEAN to exceed $71b

Singapore trade with ASEAN to exceed $71b

SINGAPORE (AFP): Singapore's annual trade with its ASEAN
partners should cross S$100 billion (US$71.42 billion) by 2000
amid rising economic cooperation in the region, the Trade
Development Board (TDB) said yesterday.

Apart from Singapore, the Association of Southeast Asian
Nations (ASEAN) comprises Brunei, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia,
Myanmar, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam.

Last year, Singapore's trade with the other ASEAN countries
amounted to S$87. 6 billion, or 24 percent of its foreign trade.

"And based on current trends, we expect Singapore's trade with
our ASEAN partners to exceed S$100 billion by 2000," TDB director
of trade policy Chan Kam Fai told AFP.

"Our trade with ASEAN is definitely better than with the rest
of the world, " he said.

"Singapore's trade with ASEAN has been growing at 14.1 percent
annually in the 1990's compared with the global average of about
9.9 percent."

Singapore's total trade rose from S$205 billion in 1990 to
S$361.5 billion last year.

Chan was reported saying by the Straits Times daily Monday
that Singapore's trade with ASEAN had more than doubled in the
1990's.

In 1990, trade with ASEAN was valued at S$39.7 billion and its
share of Singapore's total trade was less than one fifth at 19.4
percent.

Chan also told the Straits Times that Singapore's commitment
to ASEAN, which celebrated its 30th anniversary on Friday, was
also evident in its substantial investments in member countries.

As at the end of 1995, Singapore's cumulative stock of
investments in the ASEAN region stood at S$16 billion, or 35
percent of its total foreign direct investment, he said.

Last year, Singapore was the top investor in Vietnam, Malaysia
and Burma and the third largest in Indonesia.

Chan said there were firm indications that Singapore-based
companies planned to expand their operations in ASEAN countries.

Between 1985 and 1995, ASEAN's economic growth averaged 7.5
percent annually, more than twice the global economy's 3.2
percent.

During the same period, ASEAN's total trade rose 17 percent
annually, much higher than the global average of 10 percent.