Focus on infrastructure in South East Asia
Walking the streets of Manila in May it comes as no surprise to feel a little hot under the collar, with the temperature often in excess of 35°C. Moving indoors should offer some sort of respite, but when participants of the 2014 World Economic Forum (WEF) on East Asia arrived at Ninoy Aquino International Airport's overcrowded Terminal 1 they were greeted with a blast of hot air. That's because the airport's air conditioning units had already been down a few months during a much needed upgrade.
It's indicative of a wider problem in the Philippines, which despite being the fastest growing economy in South East Asia, is lagging behind when it comes to its infrastructure. During the opening session of the WEF, the country's Secretary of Finance, Cesar Purisima, made it very clear that failing to invest in infrastructure would be the major obstacle to sustainable growth in the country and in the region, which is otherwise blessed with supportive demographics, a favourable location as a trading hub and natural resources.
Chatib Basri, the Indonesian Finance Minister, also emphasised that future economic growth required significantly higher fixed asset investments and that in turn required funding and more than one political mandate. So the heat will continue for a while, but at least some ASEAN countries are definitely going in the right direction.
Away from listening to officials talk, I was pleased to chat to Tony Fernandes, the charismatic founder of the low-cost airline AirAsia, whom I met several years ago in the make-up room of a TV studio in London, prior to an interview (he had just flown in with AirAsia’s maiden flight from KL to London). Since I moved to Asia, I’ve become a good client of AirAsia and can only wish that European lowcost airlines could provide the same level of service.
At the WEF plenary session, Fernandes also reiterated that infrastructure needed to be in place for the service industries to flourish. He also highlighted two priorities that South East Asian governments should be focusing on in order to increase the share of growth, and not only the pace of growth: education and health – both areas that can be greatly boosted by technology at an affordable cost.
