## Editor’s Letter

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### Overview
- 5SEPTEMBER 2026
- “The question for policymakers is how to seize new opportunities to renew Asia’s economic growth.”
- Asia is home to more than half of humanity and a large share of global growth, trade, and innovation.
- The issue examines choices that will shape Asia’s future, largely through the lens of Southeast Asia’s economies.
- Gita Bhatt, editor-in-chief
- Asia’s Next Growth Story

### Shifting forces and key challenges
- The forces behind Asia’s ascent are shifting: “Trade is fragmenting, energy security is a concern, populations are aging, and productivity gains are harder to sustain.”
- Some nations can still benefit from expanding labor forces, but all must navigate a “more volatile, shock-prone global economy.”
- Growth must deliver tangible benefits: “Too many young people do not see growth translating into secure work and upward mobility.”
- “Prosperity on the dashboard coexists with anger on the street.” — Muhamad Chatib Basri (quoted)

### Opportunities: technology, digitalization, and integration
- Krishna Srinivasan, the IMF’s Asia-Pacific director: “Artificial intelligence, digitalization, and deeper regional integration can open new paths to growth.”
- Younger economies can harness expanding workforces; aging ones can use technology to offset demographic drag, “as Japan and Korea are doing already.”
- Anthony Tan, cofounder of Grab: AI-enabled technology can improve lives for informal workers; policymakers “must embrace informal work, not impose regulations developed for different economic conditions.”

### Finance, payments, and digital trust
- Dong He: Asia’s “pragmatic pivot” away from the US dollar for trade as it embraces local-currency settlement, digital payments, and tokenized finance.
- Sethaput Suthiwartnarueput, former Bank of Thailand governor: Asia’s digital finance revolution “must now move from speed to trust, with new rules that make payment systems resilient when faced with fraud or failure.”

### Regional cooperation and geopolitical strategy
- Ben Bland: Southeast Asia can no longer rely on the global system of open rules-based trade that helped propel its rise; the region “must become more practical and coordinated by aligning industrial policies, acting jointly on AI, reforming institutions, and deepening ties to other middle powers.”
- Danny Quah: makes the case for flexible, “multilateral-enough” coalitions with aligned incentives.

### Challenges in neighboring giants
- Duvvuri Subbarao, former governor of India’s central bank: India’s economy “is running up against structural constraints.”
- Yanliang Miao: China’s technology-led growth is a powerful new economic engine, but it “requires more balanced growth supported by stronger domestic demand and services consumption.”

### Framing the next era
- Asia’s first growth era was about opening to the world as globalization advanced, lifting hundreds of millions out of poverty.
- The next era is about resilience and renewal.
- Southeast Asia can point the way through deeper integration, inclusive technology, and pragmatic cooperation.
- “With the right choices, Asia can define not only the global economy’s recent past, but also its future.” 

*Editor’s Letter, F&D, 5SEPTEMBER 2026*

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_Source: https://www.imf.org/-/media/files/publications/fandd/article/2026/09/editors-letter.pdf_