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FOR THE DRAGONS OF SOUTHEAST ASIA,
- Subject: FOR THE DRAGONS OF SOUTHEAST ASIA,
- From: tun@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Tue, 03 Jan 1995 21:48:00
Subject: FOR THE DRAGONS OF SOUTHEAST ASIA, THE SAME TORRID PACE
(ART ADV: Graphic showing 1990-94 GDP will be sent Monday to NYT
graphic clients. Non-subscribers can make individual purchase by
calling 212-556-4204 or 1927.)
(gm)
By PHILIP SHENON
c.1995 N.Y. Times News Service
BANGKOK, Thailand The economic dragons of Southeast Asia kept
spitting fire in 1994, and every bit of evidence suggests that this
year will be no different.
Even the economic laggards of the region the Philippines,
* Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar, formerly Burma are showing new
vitality. With Washington's lifting of a 17-year-old trade embargo
last February, Vietnam could be poised for the sort of economic
boom that it had long envied among its neighbors.
Southeast Asia, capitalizing on its large numbers of low-wage
but relatively well-educated workers, remains the most economically
vibrant region on earth, with 1994 growth of 7 percent or more in
Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and Singapore, the tiny city-state
that increasingly serves as the area's economic hub.
Economic forecasts say the growth should be just as impressive
this year. In 1994, foreign investment continued to pour in,
notably from Japan, where the strong yen forced companies to keep
moving manufacturing offshore.
Furthermore, the creation of a vast middle class in Southeast
Asia means that many of the products produced in factories here,
everything from cars to television sets to running shoes, are no
longer intended strictly for export. They are also for the domestic
market.
For the richest Southeast Asians, the problem is where to put
all that new-found wealth, and many of them are investing elsewhere
in the region.
The biggest investors in Vietnam are from Hong Kong and Taiwan,
while Thais are found most everywhere in Cambodia and Laos. The
Singaporeans are taking over a large share of the economy of
Myanmar, which has thrown open the doors to foreign investors after
decades of self-imposed isolation.
The downside of the unrestrained economic boom here is the
environmental devastation of the region, especially in urban areas,
as well as the vast disparity between rich and poor.
Simply put, cities like Bangkok, the Thai capital, and Jakarta,
the Indonesian capital, are now so overbuilt and congested that
they may never again be pleasant places for anyone, rich or poor,
to live.
<TDAT> NYT-01-02-95 1759EST