Chart of the Week │ August 19, 2026
ASEAN’s Second-Order Energy Dependence: Singapore as a Refining Hub
Singapore’s role as ASEAN’s dominant refining hub carries a structural vulnerability that extends well beyond its own borders.
Featured Research
Vietnam’s Digital Transformation: Impact on Export Competitiveness of Digital Services
As Vietnam’s traditional manufacturing-led growth engine is approaching its limits, the government has made digital transformation a national development priority to enhance productivity and competitiveness. A key question is whether the national digital transformation agenda has created a strategic opportunity…
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Can China’s Encouraged Industry Catalogue Revive Foreign Investment?
China’s inward foreign investment has fallen sharply since the pandemic. Can policy incentives reverse this decline, or are deeper structural forces at work? ACI’s latest research examines one of China’s main tools for attracting foreign direct investment (FDI): the Encouraged…
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Book Launch | Advanced Manufacturing in China: Annual Competitiveness Analysis on Greater China Economies
In 2025, China’s economy grew by 5%, adding nearly one trillion USD to its GDP. The composition of growth, however, has shifted. Net exports increasingly underpinned overall growth, supported by strong export performance in ASEAN markets, while consumption remained the…
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Book Launch | Indonesia’s Human Capital Divide : A Sub-national Competitiveness Analysis
In 2025, the global economy proved more resilient than many had expected. Growth remained modest, however, as geopolitical tensions, trade frictions and policy uncertainty continued to weigh on the outlook. Indonesia fared relatively well, expanding by 5.11%, supported by investment,…
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Book Launch | India’s Skill Landscape: A Sub-national Competitiveness Analysis
The past decade has been defined by the rapid diffusion of advanced technologies reshaping production systems and global value chains. As economies become more technology-intensive and integrated into these value chains, competitive advantage rests less on factor endowments and more…
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Beyond Connectivity: How Investment and Skills Shape the Gains from Trade and Infrastructure
Why do some regions and workers benefit more from trade and infrastructure expansion than others? ACI’s research finds that the answer lies not only in market access or transport connectivity, but also in how firms invest and how workers upgrade…
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How Do Governments Earn Business Trust? Measuring Institutional Trustworthiness Across Economies
As governments compete to attract investment amid economic fragmentation, trust is increasingly viewed as a strategic asset. Yet business trust is often discussed as a matter of perception: whether firms say they trust government and public institutions. This raises a…
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Book Launch | ASEAN Resilience in a Protectionist World: A Competitiveness Analysis
ASEAN Resilience in a Protectionist World: A Competitiveness Analysis provides insight into the ASEAN perspective amid a global shift towards rising protectionism, growing trade uncertainty, technological disruptions from the rise of AI, and climate-consciousness. These developments have prompted the reconfiguration…
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Forecasting Urban Affordability: New Insights into the World’s Cost of Living in 2025
As the world has entered a period of heightened uncertainty, businesses, governments and households increasingly need forward-looking information to plan policies and consumption decisions. A recent study by researchers at the Asia Competitiveness Institute (ACI) develops a forecasting framework to…
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ACI Perspectives 