The Asian bond market has come some way since the 1997 financial crisis and is in the midst of an exciting phase of development, a Singaporean financier said here on Wednesday.

Heng Swee Keat, managing director of the Monetary Authority of Singapore make a keynote speech at a financial forum, reviewing the Asian bond's past developments and the current state and foreseeing the future.

He said today's Asian bond market is significantly bigger and more liquid, adding that the size of the market was less than 600 billion U.S. dollars in 1997 while it has now more than quadrupled to 2.7 trillion U.S. dollars, or 45 percent of gross domestic product (GDP).

The character of the market has also changed, he said.

Many Asian countries have domestic corporate bond markets, amounting to 360 billion U.S. dollars. And, the investor base becomes more sophisticated, the securities issued have also become more complex.

But he said the Asian bond market faces many challenges and suggested that the market should improve liquidity and accessibility.

He finally forecast the future developments of the bond market. First, Asian bond markets are likely to continue to grow at 10 percent to 15 percent per annum in the next 10 years, making it almost 10 trillion U.S. dollars in 2015

And he pointed out that the average rate of investment in the last five years is 25 percent of GDP, still fairly low compared to the precrisis levels of 35 percent.

He said growth will also come from household financing and the large infrastructure financing needs in Asia.

Source: Xinhua