Additionally, an integrated ASEAN market will also serve to facilitate the meeting of global standards as SMEs upgrade to meet the more harmonised compliance requirements across the region. Thirdly, SMEs will also benefit from the drive to strengthen connectivity in the ASEAN region. As highlighted in the Master Plan on ASEAN Connectivity, a comprehensive roadmap of strategies has been outlined to address connectivity challenges on three key areas, namely physical infrastructure, institutions and the people in ASEAN. Increased connectivity across all three dimensions will provide the physical and soft elements needed to create the enabling business environment for SMEs. Fourthly, various SME-specific policies by the ASEAN member countries will also benefit SMEs in the region. This includes the establishment of a regional SME internship programme which has assisted SMEs in seven ASEAN countries to enhance the skills of their employees through structured staff exchanges and capacity building workshops. A further initiative is the recent launch of the online ASEAN Marketplace which aims to provide SMEs with information on the business environment in each respective ASEAN country and a business directory of SMEs to facilitate the access to the markets in the region as well as the potential for collaboration of SMEs across the region. To date, more than 1,000 SMEs across the region have registered with this online portal. It is expected to attract more than 20,000 businesses during the course of this year.
Moving forward, the ASEAN Strategic Action Plan for SME Development 2016–2025 will also focus on promoting productivity, technology and innovation, access to financing, enhancing market access and internationalisation, while also enhancing the policy and regulatory environment, and promoting entrepreneurship and human capital development. 2  BIS central bankers’ speeches  Fifth and finally, SMEs in the region will also benefit from ASEAN’s strategic economic linkages with the greater Asia and with other parts of the world, including the advanced economies and other emerging regions. Several countries have entered into bilateral agreements, including trade agreements with ASEAN to enhance economic cooperation. These multilateral and bilateral engagements have the potential to create many new business opportunities for ASEAN SMEs. Greater financial integration as a catalyst of growth for SMEs Let me now turn to the prospects for greater regional financial integration and its potential to support growth for the ASEAN SMEs. Given the region’s high savings rate of approximately 30% of GDP, there is immense scope for greater financial integration in the region. An intensification of financial integration in ASEAN will serve to enhance the more effective intermediation of funds and thus the efficient allocation of resources in the region, thereby acting as a catalyst to achieve a growth that is mutually reinforcing for the economies in the region. This will allow for excess savings in one country to be channelled into productive investments in another country within the region.