Summary:

Intra-regional trade dependency is highly heterogeneous across the ASEAN-10 countries, with Laos being the most dependent with approximately 60% trade intensity with ASEAN-10, in terms of both export and import. Singapore’s export structure became less dependent on the ASEAN countries (from 30% to 25%) from 2018 to 2020. However, the import structure of Singapore witnessed an increase in intra-regional dependency (from 21% to 24%).

Notes: Trade shares are computed as trade flows with ASEAN partners over total export/import, which excludes domestic absorption.

Highlights:

• ASEAN countries trade 31% of imports and 26% of exports on average within the region.
• Laos’ economy is highly linked to the ASEAN-10 through export and import (59% and 62%, respectively), whereas Vietnam is relatively distant from the ASEAN-10 in terms of trade shares (9% and 13%, respectively).
• Brunei experienced the most significant increase in the intra-ASEAN trade dependency between 2018 and 2020.

Article By Chi ZHANG

Graphic By Yixuan GE