Bøger af Asian Development Bank

The Pacific is expected to recover with moderate growth of 1.4% in 2021 and 3.8% in 2022, with tourism and widespread vaccination playing key roles.This issue of the Pacific Economic Monitor provides insights on experiences and lessons of Pacific island countries in striking a delicate balance between health and economic concerns. It also outlines ADB's new development strategy to help the region address the impacts of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19).

This report highlights the results of Asian Development Bank (ADB) operations to support regional cooperation and integration (RCI) completed during 2017-2020. It outlines how ADB managed its support for RCI and used its resources, and how the bank continued leading development partners in assisting major RCI subregional programs. It notes that, in the medium term, sustaining ADB's RCI leadership and promoting wider, deeper, and more open RCI to support the region's recovery will require further resources. These include a broader base of quality RCI skills and financial resources mobilized from within and outside ADB. The report follows the 2017 ADB corporate progress report on RCI and is the first such report under ADB's Strategy 2030.

This report explores how Asia and the Pacific can capitalize on growing opportunities in digital services through structural reforms and international cooperation.Another year into the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, the report describes an Asia and Pacific region that has more experience in tackling pandemic hardships, better data showing positive integration trends, and greater confidence in regional cooperation to address shared concerns. The publication gives an overview of changes in trade and global value chains, cross-border investment, financial integration, and the movement of people since the pandemic began.

This report shows why Southeast Asian countries need to consider tax reforms after many struggled to finance massive public expenditure programs to combat COVID-19. The second in a four-part series, the report considers the impact of COVID-19 on Cambodia, Indonesia, Myanmar, the Philippines, and Thailand to lay out steps policymakers can take to create healthier fiscal spaces. It illustrates challenges faced around informality, tax collection, compliance, and progressivity. It emphasizes how preventing fraud, taxing wealth, and introducing environmental levies can help reduce poverty, tackle inequality, and contribute toward more sustainable growth. It is therefore crucial to understand the required policy responses as well as potential technologies that could help expand the tax base, increase tax compliance, and ease the process of paying taxes.

This report identifies well-established sectors needing transformation or improvement (tourism, agro-processing, and garments), along with evolving sectors with high potential for growth (electronics and digital trade) as Southeast Asian countries hammer out policies to boost post-COVID-19 recovery and secure a greener future. The first in a four-part series, the report looks at the pandemic's impact on these five sectors across Cambodia, Indonesia, Myanmar, the Philippines and Thailand. It identifies reforms and strategies to help core industries recover and grow over the medium term. This report underscores how deepening regional cooperation can help policy makers boost their countries' COVID-19 recovery and build more resilient economies and societies.

This report explains why Southeast Asian countries need to design pandemic recovery policies that hit both ambitious socioeconomic and environmental goals. The third in a four-part series, the report considers the impact of COVID-19 on Cambodia, Indonesia, Myanmar, the Philippines, and Thailand to show how a green recovery can help safeguard against future health crises. Analyzing areas including agriculture, cities, and oceans, the report lays out policy measures designed to identify, create, and finance green growth opportunities. It shows how COVID-19 has presented countries with a chance to hit the reset button and build a socially, economically, and environmentally resilient future.

This report illustrates why Southeast Asian countries need big data for pandemic recovery to radically transform the delivery of key services such as health care, social welfare and protection, and education. The final of a four-part series, it looks at the impact of COVID-19 on Cambodia, Indonesia, Myanmar, the Philippines, and Thailand to determine how big data could be an invaluable tool to help governments analyze the challenges they face. It outlines policy reforms and recommendations to help capture the benefits of big data. These include drawing up digital road maps, improving technical infrastructure, increasing data quality, and ramping up training programs to create a skilled workforce to lead the digital transformation.

This study examines international approaches in technical and vocational education and training (TVET), and determines their suitability for developing countries. TVET systems in Germany and the United Kingdom are presented to illustrate the diverse paths in developing such systems. These are juxtaposed against the Asian experience, as exemplified by the People's Republic of China and the Republic of Korea. Through these case studies, key lessons pertaining to the role of the state and private sector involvement are extracted for developing TVET policy.

The Master Plan presents a comprehensive 10-year strategy and action plan for improving the subregion's transport linkages across the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) member states. It is intended to guide actions and promote synergies among various connectivity frameworks and help achieve sustainable development of the region. A specific framework is presented here for organizing a set of policies, strategies, and projects toward realizing a shared vision of peace, prosperity, and sustainability. With BIMSTEC's unique geographical position as a bridge linking South and Southeast Asia, this document is also relevant to its neighboring regions. BIMSTEC was established as a regional organization in June 1997 to promote free trade within the region, increase cross-border investment and tourism, and promote technical cooperation.

This publication suggests how Pakistan could strengthen solid waste management and in doing so reduce its greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. It provides guidance on improving and expanding waste collection and disposal services for municipal, industrial, electronic, and hospital waste. It outlines waste management options and key considerations in setting up a waste management system. The publication also discusses consolidating data on the waste generated, developing a waste management strategy, calculating historical emissions from the waste sector and projections, and establishing an institutional framework.

The Central Asia Regional Economic Cooperation (CAREC) region was badly affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Associated social and economic costs have placed infectious disease at the top of sovereign and corporate risk registers. Prearranged financing for shock events greatly enhances the cost-efficiency and effectiveness of response, but this was virtually nonexistent for infectious disease risk prior to the COVID-19 outbreak. This study provides a review of infectious disease risk financing schemes to draw lessons and recommend solutions for CAREC member countries to strengthen their disaster risk management strategies and public sector budget resilience.