The ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) Blueprint 2025 underscores the critical role of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) as the backbone of ASEAN economies. Over the past decade, ASEAN Member States (AMS) have rolled out a range of SME support policies and instruments. However, recent challenges – like supply chain disruptions from the COVID-19 pandemic, surging inflation, and rising interest rates – have hit SMEs hard. These turbulent times have put SME support systems to the test, challenging their ability to truly bolster local businesses and to foster resilience.

This report examines the current landscape of SME policies across the ASEAN region, providing an updated assessment of progress across eight thematic areas (i.e. dimensions) as well as a description of AMSspecific challenges and recommendations for further reform. Its methodology builds on the SME Policy Index methodology of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), including new analyses of policies for the digital transformation of SMEs, and utilises previous assessments in 2014 and 2018 as points of comparison. It also integrates the goals of the ASEAN Strategic Action Plan for SME Development 2016–2025 (SAP SMED 2025). The assessment was conducted by OECD and the Economic Research Institute for ASEAN and East Asia (ERIA) at both the regional and country levels and was carried out in cooperation with the ASEAN Coordinating Committee on Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (ACCMSME) and national policymakers, as well as academic experts and the private sector. This report can be used as a reference tool to help monitor and evaluate ASEAN’s efforts in advancing micro and SME development policies throughout the region.