Economy

In late November 2015 ASEAN signed the Kuala Lumpur Declaration, formally establishing a single market among the 10 ASEAN member states. Known as the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC), the endeavour aims to integrate the region’s economies into a unified market of 620m people and with combined annual output of $2.4trn.

Formerly known as Burma, many have hailed the Republic of the Union of Myanmar’s recent economic, political and social restructuring as ground breaking, and for good reason. In a relatively short period, it has gone from an isolated economy to an investment focal point.

After decades of dictatorship, Myanmar emerged as an unlikely beacon of democracy in South-east Asia in 2015, as the National League for Democracy (NLD), under former political prisoner and Nobel-Prize-laureate Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, strode to a victory in November’s landmark election. With the government in Naypyidaw poised to hand over power...

Myanmar is currently passing through a crucial period of political debate, against the background of an era marked by rapid economic growth and international openness. The successful November 2015 parliamentary elections capped a landmark year for the country. Myanmar has undergone changes that only a few years ago might have seemed unlikely,...

Faced with slower GDP growth in 2014 and 2015, Peru is working to reinvigorate economic expansion through a series of counter-cyclical fiscal measures, aimed at developing infrastructure and education in particular. However, these spending packages have so far met with mixed results and will likely require more time to yield the broader...

The Pacific Alliance is an integration agreement created in 2011 between Chile, Colombia, Peru and Mexico, with several other countries expected to join the near future. The first formal proposal had been tabled by then-president, Alan García, who convened a meeting with the leaders of the three other countries on April 28, 2011. The meeting...