The Greater Mekong Delta area has become one of the most exciting economic regions worldwide. Comprising Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam, it harbours enormous potential for growth. With strongly diverse population volumes, labour costs, human capital and political backgrounds, this sub-region is far from monolithic.
The economies of the countries that make up the Mekong Delta are collectively growing at an average rate of 6% per year, with some forecasts predicting growth of more than 7% until 2020 and beyond. This gross domestic product (GDP) growth is even more remarkable when taking into account the area’s political and social turmoil. "Most of these countries have experienced very turbulent and tragic parts of their history [recently] but have managed to come out of them [transformed]," says Grant Knuckey, CEO of ANZ Royal Bank in Cambodia and managing director of ANZ Banking Group in Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar.