The 10th Joint RFA Research Seminar is coming to Singapore! 🌏 Theme: A New Era of Financial Digitalization in a Geo-Fragmented World. 📅 September 14–15, 2026 For this year's seminar, we're exploring the digital transformation of money and payments: stablecoins, tokenized deposits, CBDCs, and cross-border payment systems—and their implications for financial stability, together with global experts. Held annually since 2017, the seminar is co-organized by AMRO together with the Arab Monetary Fund (AMF), the European Stability Mechanism (ESM), and the Latin American Reserve Fund (FLAR). ➡️ Learn more about the seminar: ➡️ If you are interested in participating, email us at 10thJointRFASeminar@amro-asia.org.

How can increasingly diverse forms of money coexist within a financial system that remains open, trusted, resilient, and globally connected? AMRO Director/CEO Yasuto Watanabe argues that the objective should not be technological uniformity, but the institutional capacity to adapt—updating rules, strengthening international cooperation, and integrating innovation without sacrificing stability.

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Global supply shocks generate stagflationary pressures and pose difficult tradeoffs for monetary policy. This paper studies how central banks respond to such shocks using panel and country-level structural VARs for eight ASEAN+3 economies over 1970–2024, and a broad set of global supply shock measures.

AMRO recently conducted two workshops in Lao PDR and Brunei Darussalam to deepen official’s understanding of the Chiang Mai Initiative Multilateralisation (CMIM) —the region’s financial safety net—and strengthen its operational readiness. Through technical workshops, regular test runs, and policy advice, AMRO works with ASEAN+3 members to keep the CMIM operationally ready and responsive to the region’s evolving needs—helping strengthen regional financial resilience. 👉Learn more about the CMIM:  

As Asia's populations age, rising healthcare costs and shrinking workforces are putting pressure on public finances. But Singapore and Japan show that the right policies can help older individuals stay economically active for longer, helping offset the effects of shrinking workforces and supporting long-term growth.

It was a pleasure to co-host the conference on “Fiscal and Monetary Policies in Developing Economies for Navigating Fragmentation Risks” with Asian Development Bank (ADB) in Singapore. AMRO Deputy Director Rahman Abdurohman delivered the opening remarks, followed by a keynote speech by AMRO Chief Economist Dong He and a joint keynote address by distinguished professors Joshua Aizenman, Jamel Saadaoui, and Hiro Ito. The conference featured 12 research paper presentations and lively exchanges on fiscal and monetary policies amid rising global fragmentation while safeguarding macroeconomic stability and fostering resilient growth. Our sincere thanks to all participants for the insightful discussions.

In this month’s newsletter, read AMRO’s 2025 Annual Report, the latest ASEAN+3 regional economic outlook, and assessments on Cambodia, Brunei Darussalam, and Singapore. This issue also features commentaries on Asia’s energy resilience, AI and dollar dominance, Tokyo's property boom, the Philippines at mid-year, and more! Subscribe:

Singapore benefits from strong global AI-driven demand. But higher global oil prices and slower global demand are expected to weigh on the outlook. Growth is projected to moderate from 5.0% in 2025 to 4.8% in 2026, while inflation is expected to rise from 0.9% to 2.1%. Continued AI adoption and workforce transformation will be essential to strengthening competitiveness. As its prepares to assume the ASEAN Chairmanship in 2027, Singapore can also help advance regional integration through its strong regulatory regime and financial innovation capabilities.

How can increasingly diverse forms of money coexist within a financial system that remains open, trusted, resilient, and globally connected? AMRO Director/CEO Yasuto Watanabe argues that the objective should not be technological uniformity, but the institutional capacity to adapt—updating rules, strengthening international cooperation, and integrating innovation without sacrificing stability.

While policymakers and economists debate the future of dollar dominance, AI companies, cloud providers, and payment networks might already be writing it into the next chapter of international monetary history. Writing for @ProSyn, AMRO economists Xianguo (Jerry) Huang and Chenxu Fu argue that dollar invoicing of the AI supply chain and dollar-pegged stablecoin settlement could combine to create a self-reinforcing “energy-compute dollar loop.”

This month, Korea became one of the first major markets to rein in single-stock leveraged exchange-traded funds (ETFs). Following a burst of market volatility, regulators suspended new listings, banned their marketing, and raised the minimum deposit required to trade them. Find out how leveraged ETFs work, why they are back in the spotlight, and whether they really make markets more volatile:

The ASEAN+3 outlook has improved since AMRO’s June Interim Update, despite the continuing Middle East conflict. Our latest blog highlights 5 key takeaways from the July Quarterly Update of the AREO.

AMRO conducted an ARTEMIS workshop in Vientiane last week, bringing together officials from the Lao PDR Ministry of Finance (LMOF) and the Bank of the Lao PDR (BOL). Dr. Vongkhamheng Vongthachack, Director General of LMOF’s International Finance and Cooperation Department, delivered the opening remarks. As part of AMRO’s capacity-building efforts, the workshop introduced ARTEMIS – AMRO's digital platform for macro-financial surveillance and research – through live demonstrations and hands-on exercises. Participants explored ARTEMIS' wide range of analytical tools for monitoring macroeconomic developments, assessing emerging risks, and strengthening banking sector surveillance. Learn more about ARTEMIS on the AMRO website:

AMRO Director/CEO Yasuto Watanabe reflects on his first year leading AMRO, the region's challenges & his priorities to ensure AMRO remains ready to safeguard the region's resilience and stability through rigorous surveillance, member-focused policy advice, and deeper cooperation.

AMRO's latest policy paper outlines key challenges in regional payment connectivity and sets out priorities for the next phase—including scaling retail linkages, strengthening wholesale systems connectivity, and deepening coordination on digital assets.

Cross-border payments are essential to financial & economic integration but they remain slow, costly, and fragmented. AMRO's Prashant Pande explains what is holding current systems back, and what needs to be done to improve efficiency & strengthen regional financial integration.