Benefits from AFTA:
- The elimination of tariffs should result in product price reductions throughout ASEAN
- Encouraging higher market competition
- Help ASEAN countries' products gain access to a regional market that incorporates many substantial advantages, e.g. a population of more than 580 million, $1.5 trillion gross domestic product, convenient transport systems, huge international trade worth $1.7 trillion a year, and foreign investment of $60 billion
- Consumers will benefit from cheaper prices of goods given lower tariffs on a host of raw materials used by the region's producers.
- Some of processing factories are expected to enjoy cheaper imported raw materials in the face of the tariff elimination, cutting their production costs
- ASEAN will be integrated into a single market which is an important point because the market will be stronger and larger with a high population
- the export and investment sectors will generate higher potential in the long term