As part of the Thursdays with the SGC webinar series, the SGC was delighted to welcome Dr Charlie Lay, Director and Senior Economist at Commerzbank, as a speaker on the topic of the Asian Economic Outlook 2024. Based on the question, “Is the global economy resilient and unstoppable?”, his presentation focussed on the economic developments of the US and China as well as the global spillover effect in Asia; particularly the ASEAN region.

Dr Lay emphasised diversification as one of the most impactful economic trends. Especially in the post-pandemic period and the current geopolitical conflicts, the global diversification of supply chains shows the importance of ASEAN as an emerging region alongside and as a counterpart to China. Striving for independency, diversifying supply chains, and increasing productivity are the objectives of the current economic situation