Sithanonxay Suvannaphakdy (PhD) is an economist with more than seven years research experience in regional economic integration, economic development, and public administration. His career has focused on research and project management in trade, economic development and sustainable development programs. These cover multiple scales including project, program, national and regional scales. He works extensively with the private sector, public sector, bilateral development agencies and multilateral financial institutions.
Since January 2020, he has served as a Lead Researcher at the ASEAN Studies Centre, ISEAS – Yusof Ishak Institute, where he undertakes policy-oriented research on ASEAN’s economic integration with particular focus on ASEAN Economic Community (AEC).
Sithanonxay Suvannaphakdy and Pham Thi Phuong Thao discuss key challenges facing ASEAN in promoting digital supply chains amid the shift of multinational corporations’ (MNCs) operations to the region.
The ASEAN digital economy is running sub-optimally due to fragmented regulatory frameworks. Increased coherence will enable the region’s firms to break out of their local markets and raise revenues from the expansion of consumer markets.
Digital identification could be a silver bullet to increase tax revenues for ASEAN governments while pulling the region’s poorest out of poverty by redistributing wealth.
Micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) form an integral part of ASEAN economies, but they have not been able to access sufficient financial resources to unlock their growth potential.
