During the Covid-19 pandemic, ASEAN-4 central banks (namely, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, and the Philippines) employed central bank balance sheet tools, notably large-scale purchases of government bonds, for different purposes. This paper sheds light on the normalization of these tools as well as their potential impact, which has not been adequately discussed in existing literature in the context of emerging market economies. It finds that a passive normalization is already underway and there may be no urgent need to scale down central banks’ government bond holding in the short-term. However, in the longer-term, central banks with significant government bond holdings may consider a more active normalization to avoid unintended consequences, especially on bond market functioning. Clear communication should also form an integral part of the normalization plan.