globalEDGE Blog - Page 132

The ASEAN trade community encompasses a group of dynamic economies that seem poised to experience rapid growth and gains in wealth. As with any entity that exudes potential, however, the ASEAN trade bloc faces significant challenges as a trade bloc and as independent nations. The beginning of the AEC (ASEAN Economic Community) will present a whole list of new issues along with its great promise.

Two new U.S. International Trade Administration (ITA) resources are now available on globalEDGE and they can be found in the U.S. Trade Resources tab of the country pages within the Global Insights section of globalEDGE.

ITA Trade Leads provide contract opportunities for U.S. businesses selling their products and services overseas. This new resource is particularly important for U.S. businesses because it’s often difficult for them to learn about overseas opportunities, especially those within complex industries where partnerships and sub-contracts are the norms. Currently, these leads come from six different sources and are updated daily. Users can browse through all of the available trade leads for a certain country or search the leads using keywords.

ITA Consolidated Screening List (CSL) is a list of parties for which the United States Government maintains restrictions on certain exports, re-exports, or transfers of items. This resource conducts electronic screens of potential parties to regulated transactions. In the event that a company, entity, or person on the list appears to match a party potentially involved in your export transaction, additional due diligence should be conducted before proceeding. CSL is a collection of eleven export screening lists of the Departments of Commerce, State and the Treasury, and it is updated daily. Lists of screened companies, entities, and individuals can be browsed by country or can be searched by keywords.

The globalEDGE team is excited to introduce our newly redesigned country risk pages. Each country risk page can be accessed individually for via the Country Insights menu. These new pages now allow users to not only see both the country risk and business climate risk for each country, but also compare that risk rating to other countries around the globe using an interactive map, color-coded by risk rating. Users can also read about each country’s strengths and weaknesses which contribute to the risk, as well as current economic and financial trends occurring in the country. Check out these new pages to learn about country risk and business climate today! 

In the third part of this week’s blog series on the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC), we will look at the many economic and investment opportunities created with the formation of the new economic bloc, along with some possible economic implications in the region. With a combined population of 625 million and a relatively low GDP per capita, many see the AEC as a region ripe for growth and opportunity. The economic community has the potential to significantly impact all ten participating countries, as a reduction in tariffs and freer trade could open new avenues for many businesses in the bloc, as well as foreign companies looking to expand.

The main focus of the recently launched ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) is to create a single market and production base, support member nations in a world of increasing competitiveness, and to close economic disparities. Overall, the underlying aim is to further integrate Asian economies with the global economy. Germany has expressed interest in the AEC, according to a survey conducted by Germany Invest. The survey found that German firms currently operating within ASEAN are excited by the new opportunities that the AEC might bring for their businesses. In the past, hesitance has prevented German firms from leading against competitors such as Japan, who has successfully been leveraging tariff removals and other benefits found in the region. The AEC will bring exciting new benefits and business opportunities to members in its region. However, despite the AEC appearing to be the next European Union, it has a long way to go in terms of integration.

The ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) is not yet a household name, but it certainly has the power to become one. Officially launched on January 1, 2016, the AEC is aiming to transform the economies of ASEAN’s 10 member states - Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Burma, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam - into a unified market and production base. However, the AEC will not attempt to implement uniform economic policies throughout the region. It sees diversity among its members as a strength and an attribute that will make it attractive to global investors. With a combined GDP of $2.4 trillion, this new economic community will look to have tremendous impacts on global markets and international trade.

Venezuela's economy is spiraling downward with no end in sight. The country has the highest inflation in the world, topping countries such as Sudan and Iran. There are five apparent causes that have led to the downfall in Venezuela's economy, including political instability, food crisis, oil prices, currency exchange rates, and the country's default. Because of Venezuela's hurting economy, many companies from around the world are taking hits on profits and cutting back business within the country.

Japan’s tough economic sledding continues. The Land of the Rising Sun faces currency appreciation without the underlying fundamentals to support it. A myriad of issues have led to weak economic conditions in Japan, and the recent appreciation of the yen isn’t helping at all. In fact, it is a counteractive force to Japanese monetary policy, and is causing headaches for Japanese firms.

This Monday, the Central Statistics Office of India announced that the country’s economy had grown by 7.3% last quarter, making it one of the world’s fastest growing economies. Already the 3rd largest economy in the world, India outpaced China’s growth of 6.8% in the same period, and far surpassed its own growth rate of 6.6% in the same period last year. Although it may seem odd that India’s economy is growing faster than China’s, it has happened before. According to the International Monetary Fund, India’s economy outpaced China’s in 1981, 1989, 1990, and 1999, but 2015 is the first case of this occurring in this millennium. However, as stock prices have recently dipped and a new calculation of GDP has been utilized, economists and analysts are reluctant to believe that India’s GDP is the only piece of the puzzle.

Baby Boomers worked in a strict hierarchical structure: you stayed in a position for a certain amount of time before being promoted, you reported to your boss and kept conversations strictly employer/employee related, you worked nine to five in the office, and you rarely left your original firm in search of new opportunities. Millennials are here to change that.