Despite the challenging economic conditions, many Southeast Asian countries have been looking ahead optimistically while planning for recovery.

While dire news of Southeast Asian economies has lined newsfeeds the past months, many remain optimistic regarding the outlook of economic recovery. As global production lines recommence operations, the multiple sources predicts that countries in the region will rebound in the upcoming months.

According to a report published by the Ministry of Trade and Industry in Singapore, various sectors have remained adaptable and resilient even as they struggled with the economic downfall; Although there was a dip of 0.7% in manufacturing output, precision engineering, electronics and biomedical manufacturing expanded by 4.5%, 5.6% and 11% respectively; machinery and systems, retail stores and finance and insurance sectors saw a remarkable uptick too.

In a report, Euler Hermes points out Singapore´s status of being a regional and global hub for trade as a key strength. This coupled with its strong business environment and resilient banking sector presents an optimistic outlook in Singapore’s path to recovery. In their report, the insurance giant predicts that Singaporean GDP will contract in 2020 but rebound 4.5% in 2021.

In Indonesia, President Joko Widodo stated, “We must not let the crisis bring about setbacks. In fact, we must capitalise on the crisis as a momentum to make a big leap”, supporting his statements with an ambitious budget proposal and an optimistic recovery forecast.

While there was a broad-based decline in activities in Indonesian industries such as manufacturing and construction, growth in the knowledge-intensive sectors like education, digital and healthcare was seen during the first half of 2020. With abundant natural resources and a strong banking industry, The World Bank predicts that Indonesian real GDP growth will increase to 4.8% next year.

As Southeast Asia begins to stabilize, recovery and improvement is expected. However, it will undoubtedly occur gradually.

Being Prepared for Recovery

As the Southeast Asian economy looks to gradually revamp and progress, Mitigram provides an avenue for quicker and more efficient financial assistance to support growing and fluctuating demand. Adopted by more than 100 financial institutions, Mitigram allows corporates to reach out to both existing and new financial counterparties to request availability and pricing for all Trade Finance products. The platform enables a much quicker communication flow with banks as compared to using e-mail and phone.

Across Mitigram’s clients, an increase in activity on the platform has been evident. Namely, there has been an increase in the need to cover risk on obligors and for markets where it was not previously the case. And using Mitigram, the process of connecting with new financial institutions is just a click away.

Mitigram is used as a catalyst for trade businesses by offering robust support functionalities for corporates and traders - so that they can quickly gather insights and recognize what is possible in their markets. As Mitigram is completely web-based, new clients are up and running within 24 hours after signing up. All banks are available at a click of a button.