ABSTRACT
This chapter outlines the economic growth and foreign investment histories of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)-5 economies. It presents a background to the formation of the ASEAN Preferential Trade Agreement. The ASEAN-5 countries span almost the whole range of living standards and levels of development that are found within developing countries. The economies of Southeast Asia recorded a rapid and sustained economic growth during the 1970s, and although the slow down in the world economy was reflected in a decline in growth rates in the mid-1980s, Southeast Asia has remained one of the fastest growing regions in the world. Prior to 1987, foreign investment flowing into the ASEAN-5 was dominated by the US, the UK, West Germany, the Netherlands, France and Japan. Indonesia is an archipelago of over 3000 islands constituting great ethnic, religious, linguistic and economic diversity among its people. It is the most populous and poorest of the ASEAN-5 developing countries.
