China and ASEAN Quarterly Q1 2025

We ring in the Lunar New Year with the release of our latest China & ASEAN Quarterly magazine. This new year comes with major developments shaping financial markets, and we at Lundgreen’s Investor Insights hope to help you make sense of these changes.

The year 2024 was challenging for China, and the depressed consumer demand created a ripple effect globally. Still, the Chinese economy met its 5 per cent GDP growth target – based on first estimates, at least. Chinese equities also had a stellar run last year, fueled by the government’s decisive stimulus package as we discuss in one of our articles.

In this issue, we invite global investors in search for growth to look to the China and ASEAN countries and what we identify as sectors of the future. Artificial intelligence, renewable energy innovations, and tech unicorns have led the charge in mature economies, and the same is true for emerging markets in this region.

The return of US President Donald Trump is one of the biggest sources of volatility this 2025, especially his threat to inflate the tariffs on China-made goods. This might turn some investors away from Chinese assets, but we argue that excluding the world’s second largest economy in one’s global portfolio would mean a missed opportunity to cash in on China’s still-vibrant growth story.

Together with our Founding CEO Peter Lundgreen and our contributors from all over the region, we hope that these articles give insight as you make your investment decisions. We are happy to receive any feedback you may have.

Melissa Luz Lopez
Chief Economist for ASEAN