Singapore among top performers in new ADB regional integration measure

SINGAPORE is among the top performers in the Asia-Pacific Regional Cooperation and Integration Index, a new measure of the progress of regional cooperation and integration in the region.

According to the Asian Economic Integration Report 2017, a new report released by the Asian Development Bank (ADB), Singapore scores high in all the six dimensions that make up the composite index devised by ADB: trade and investment; money and finance; regional value chains; infrastructure and connectivity; movement of people; and institutional and social integration.

Yet, Singapore's regional money and finance integration is weaker relative to the other dimensions, noted the report. "This stems largely from the fact that Singapore is a global financial centre and more globally integrated than regionally," it added.

The report pointed out that both Japan and Hong Kong are equally regarded as global financial centres and also have relatively low scores for regional money and finance integration.

According to the report, such economies reflected higher inter-regional rather than intra-regional integration.

South-east Asia, where Singapore is grouped, is the most regionally integrated among the six sub-regions in the Asia-Pacific, the report said. This is followed by East Asia, which includes Japan and China. Central Asia is the least integrated of the sub-regions.