World Bank Urges ASEAN to Adopt Five-Point Strategy for Resilience

The World Bank has identified five key strategies for ASEAN to achieve sustainable growth amid what it calls a “turning point” for the global economy. 

The recommendations were delivered at the C asean Forum 2025, which commemorated the 58th anniversary of the bloc’s formation.

Speaking at the panel discussion under the topic “ASEAN’s Resilience : Challenges and Opportunities”, Melinda Good, the World Bank’s Country Manager for Thailand and Myanmar, noted that a focus on short-term survival has overshadowed long-term resilience since the COVID-19 pandemic. 

However, she warned that structural shifts, including recent tariffs, geopolitical volatility, technological disruption, and climate change, mean that “business as usual” is no longer an option for the region.

The World Bank’s five recommendations for building resilience from within and expanding outwards are:

1. Strengthening Domestic Competitiveness

The World Bank noted a significant productivity gap, with top global companies growing at 76% over the last decade, while their ASEAN counterparts grew by just 34%. To address this, the region must create an ecosystem that supports both large corporations and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to grow.

 

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