Asean
ASEAN holds policy dialogue on formalisation of micro enterprises
Participants benefitted from the sharing sessions delivered by representatives from Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam, OECD, World Bank, International Labor Organisation and New Zealand

BANGKOK, 26 June 2019 – About 120 participants representing ASEAN Coordinating Committee on Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (ACCMSME), business registration agencies, and private sector representatives from ASEAN Member States attended a policy dialogue on formalisation of micro enterprises in Bangkok, Thailand yesterday.
As one of ACCMSME’s priority deliverables for 2019, the dialogue aims to enhance understanding about the informal sector and on how to encourage the informal sector to register their businesses through the provision of incentives to entrepreneurs as well as through law enforcement. It also discussed how digitalisation of business registration services could promote business formalisation in ASEAN.
Chair of ACCMSME Destry Anna Sari emphasised in her opening remarks that given the right ecosystem, support, policies, and regulatory environment, the micro enterprises could have the same opportunities to achieve success as their larger-sized counterparts. She also added that mutual understanding between the governments and the private sector should be the cornerstone to the efforts in formalising micro enterprises.
Meanwhile, Ayesha Rekhi, Chargee d’affaires, Embassy of Canada to Thailand underlined the necessity of micro enterprises for the economic growth and expressed Canada’s continued support in development of MSMEs in the region.
Suwanchai Lohowatanakul, Director General, Office of SMEs Promotion (OSMEP), Thailand, underscored the importance of the policy dialogue as its outcomes will be incorporated into the Policy Guideline on Digitalisation of ASEAN Micro Enterprises, which will be submitted to the 35th ASEAN Summit through the 51st ASEAN Economic Ministers Meeting. The guideline will identify necessary actions for bringing micro enterprises to the formal economy.
Participants benefitted from the sharing sessions delivered by representatives from Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam, OECD, World Bank, International Labor Organisation and New Zealand. They also discussed and summarised key takeaways of the policy dialogue and provided recommendations on the way forward with regards to the formalisation of micro enterprises in the ASEAN region.
The policy dialogue was organised by the OSMEP with the support of Canada through the Canada-OECD Project for ASEAN SMEs.
******
Asean
The Latest on Covid-19 in Southeast Asia
Thailand has largely avoided widespread community transmission of Covid-19, but the kingdom is not faring well on the economic front, with a projected contraction of 7.1 percent this year.

As a region, Southeast Asia has fared relatively well in keeping coronavirus cases low, with the notable exceptions of the Philippines and Indonesia.
(more…)Laos
China’s debt-trap diplomacy: Laos’ credit rating downgraded to CCC
Laos’ debt challenge is deeply concerning, with some media commentators suggesting the country is falling into a debt trap as a result of Chinese infrastructure investments connected to the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI)

On 23 September, the Fitch Ratings agency downgraded Laos’ credit rating to CCC — the second downgrade in 2020, having dropped to B- in May.
(more…)Vietnam
Foreign capital still heads to Vietnam
As many as 798 projects added a combined over 5.11 billion USD to their investment capital, down 23 percent year-on-year in project number but up 6.8 percent in value.

Hanoi (VNA) – The total amount of foreign investment poured into Vietnam this year to September 20 reached 21.2 billion USD, equivalent to 81.8 percent of the same period last year, reported the Ministry of Planning and Investment.
(more…)-
Forex1 week ago
Leverage from Forex Brokers & How Beginners Can Benefit from It
-
National4 days ago
Human trafficking cases in Thailand hit decade low due to COVID-19
-
Economics4 days ago
Thai economy to grow 4% in 2021 following 6.5% decline in 2020
-
Banking6 days ago
Can Fintech drive a strong post-COVID-19 recovery in Asia?