The Business Times
business-time-50
NEW GLOBAL ORDER
·
SUBSCRIBERS

Strengthening Asean’s economic resilience through RCEP’s 2027 review

Practical reforms will make South-east Asia’s biggest trade pact more effective and beneficial

Summarise
google-preferred-sourceAdd BT as a preferred source
阅读简体中文版 (beta)
    • Leaders at the fifth Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) Summit in Kuala Lumpur last October. The 10 Asean states, along with Australia, China, Japan, New Zealand and South Korea, are signatories to the trade pact.
    • Leaders at the fifth Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) Summit in Kuala Lumpur last October. The 10 Asean states, along with Australia, China, Japan, New Zealand and South Korea, are signatories to the trade pact. PHOTO: BT FILE

    Banh Thi Hang

    Published Tue, Apr 21, 2026 · 07:00 AM

    WHEN conflict in the Middle East disrupts shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, Asia feels it fast.

    In 2024, 84 per cent of the crude oil and condensate and 83 per cent of the liquefied natural gas that moved through the strait went to Asian markets. Disruption there quickly feeds into higher energy costs, rising freight rates and renewed inflation across the region.

    Asia has no military answer to shocks like these. Its best protection is institutional, and its strongest instrument is the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), the 15-member trade pact that accounts for about 30 per cent of global gross domestic product.

    New Global OrderAseanRCEPSouth-east AsiaeconomyTradefree trade agreementsgeoeconomics

    TRENDING NOW

    Piyush Gupta, chairman of SMU, Keppel and Mandai Wildlife Group, said: "We have to position the parks to serve our advocacy purpose, to serve an entertainment purpose, to continue to be what Singaporeans want.”

    Not retirement, but a rewiring and fresh perspectives post-DBS, says Piyush Gupta

    Longest-serving chief minister Taib Mahmud’s legacy looms large over Sarawak as a family feud over his estate threatens to expose skeleton’s in the eastern state’s political closet.

    On the board but frozen out: The Taib family feud tearing Sarawak construction giant apart

    The special asset bankers are up against a HK$200 billion pile of soured debt that has pushed the Hong Kong’s distressed loan ratio to a two-decade high.

    Hong Kong’s bad-debt bankers ramp up fire sales, liquidations as city’s distressed loan ratio hit a high

    Among the STI components that will trade ex-dividend this week are DBS and Frasers Logistics & Commercial Trust.

    Power of payouts: A big chunk of the STI has just gone ex-dividend. What’s next?

    Latest T-bills Treasury Bills Results & Interest NewsLatest SSB Singapore Savings Bonds NewsLatest COE Certificate of Entitlement News
    Latest Johor-Singapore SEZ NewsLatest BTO Build To Order & Sales of Balance NewsLatest STI Straits Times Index NewsLatest SGX Dividends, Share Price NewsLatest Bonds Market NewsLatest Singapore Stocks To Buy NewsLatest Singapore Economy News
    View More