Southeast Asian economy grew 4.6% in April-June
The Southeast Asian economy is recovering, posting the sharpest growth in a year and a half in the April-June quarter. The real gross domestic product of five major countries in the region – Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore and the Philippines – expanded 4.6% from a year earlier, surpassing the 4.4% growth seen in the January-March quarter, according to an estimate by the Asian Development Bank. The figure was derived from a weighted average of the nations’ growth rates. Thailand’s economy, which had been suffering from political instability, grew 3.5% in the April-June quarter, marking a second consecutive quarter of improvement.