Countries across ASEAN continued to ease their policies over the past week, but with a degree of caution. Thailand extended its state of emergency until the end of June even as it eased its movement restrictions, while Indonesia is deploying military and police personnel to enforce health protocols. The Thai parliament also passed a US$59.8 billion stimulus package after a five-day debate, which was the legislature’s first meeting since a beginning of movement restrictions in March 2020. Singapore, too, announced its fourth stimulus budget of S$33bn last week. As other countries such as Singapore are poised to ease their movement restrictions, more policy responses are expected to address the socio-economic toll of the virus.
