Regional Reports and Publication

The ASEAN economy  constitutes  a  combined  market  size  of  more  than  640  million  people  with  a  large  and  literate  young  population,  and  a  growing  middle  class  with  a  combined  GDP  of  US$2.8  trillion  in  2017.  Expected  economic  growth  remains  stable  at  5.2%  for  2018  and  2019.  Maintaining  the  growth  momentum  and  strengthening  the  regional  integration  agenda  will  propel  ASEAN  towards  becoming  the  4th  largest  global  economy  by  2050.  To  ensure  ASEAN  continues  to  prosper,  the  growth  of  our  economy  should  leverage  upon  the  opportunities  of  the  digital  economy.

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The  'resilient  and  innovative'  theme  of  Singapore's  2018  Chairmanship  of  ASEAN  is  consistent  with  the  overall  goal  of  positioning  ASEAN  as  a  region  of  seamless  business  activities  and  opportunities  in  the  digital  economy.  ASEAN  has  introduced  several  initiatives  this  year  to  promote  digitalisation  in  the  region,  including  the  ASEAN  Agreement  on  E-Commerce  and  the  ASEAN  Digital  Integration  Framework.  In  2016,  Member  States  adopted  the  ASEAN  Framework  on  Personal  Data  Protection  to  underpin  the  basic  principles  of  and  strengthen  the  protection  of  personal  data  in  ASEAN.  These  regional  commitments  when  implemented  will  enable  ASEAN  to  facilitate  cross-border  e-commerce  and  seamless  trade,  protect  data  while  supporting  digital  trade  and  innovation,  enable  seamless  digital  payments  domestically  and  regionally,  broaden  the  digital  talent  base,  foster  entrepreneurship  and  coordinate  actions  through  a  single  designated  ASEAN  body.

The ASEAN SME Policy Index 2018 maps and benchmarks SME development policies across ASEAN Member States (AMS). The assessment cuts across eight different policy areas related to SME development, namely: 

1. productivity, technology and innovation; 

2. environmental policies; 

3. access to finance; 

4. access to market and internationalisation; 

5. institutional framework; 

6. legislation, regulation and tax; 

7. entrepreneurial education and skills; and 

8. social and inclusive entrepreneurship.

Coordinated together by DARe, OECD, ERIA and the ASEAN Secretariat reveals that Brunei Darussalam has made rapid progress in developing its policy framework for SME development since 2015. As of the report's publication, its approach has focused on stimulating entrepreneurship and facilitating internationalisation so that Bruneian enterprises can scale. To support economic diversification, the country has identified priority sectors for targeted support. More could be done to plug gaps in the planning and design of SME policies and programmes, as well as to make the use of good regulatory practice more structured.

An overall 31 different units/divisions/departments/statutory bodies across 8 ministries was involved in the stocktake of the report.