SEA Weekly tracks the momentum shaping Southeast Asia with a strict editorial focus on economy, finance, industry, travel, and sport.
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ASEAN Economy Brief: Who Is Winning Fiscal Space as Subsidy Pressures Rise?
·1017 words·5 mins
ASEAN’s fiscal divergence in 2026 is not primarily about who exports oil. It’s about who made subsidy reform calls in the quiet years before the shock — and Malaysia and the Philippines are holding more fiscal cards going into H2 than Indonesia or Thailand.
Who Is Winning Brunei Investment Diversification Beyond Hydrocarbons in 2026?
Brunei is taking the right institutional steps toward post-hydrocarbon diversification, but the pieces aren’t yet connected, the sovereign wealth lever remains under-deployed, and the Iran war windfall is both the best enabler and the biggest trap.
What's driving Laos energy import costs and inflation pressure in 2026?
Laos inflation is running at 9% because the country is structurally pinned: it produces 83% of its energy from hydropower yet cannot keep Électricité du Laos solvent, and it has zero domestic refining capacity yet imports 97% of its fuel from Thailand.
How Cambodia vs Myanmar garment competitiveness is reshaping ASEAN supply chain risk
Southeast Asia’s garment sector is facing a reckoning where the savings of low-cost manufacturing are being erased by “Logistics Entropy”—the combined cost of surging fuel, worker safety crises, and unpredictable US trade policy. Cambodia is repositioning as a “stable but expensive” hub, while Myanmar is increasingly viewed as a “no-go” zone for all but the most risk-tolerant.
Why Philippines Consumption Outlook 2026 Depends on Remittance Quality, Not Just Volume
·1503 words·8 mins
Record remittance volumes mask a quality story that matters far more for Philippines household consumption in 2026 — the sectoral and geographic composition of OFW sending patterns is quietly reshaping what families can actually spend.
