The region needs to invest in an efficient system of regional infrastructure for a seamless Asia to emerge. This will provide the foundation for Asian common markets and facilitate the creation of an eventual pan-Asian community. None of this will be easy, but it will have to be done by building institutions, harmonizing policies and regulations, developing and aligning standards, and, most crucially, attracting the required capital to the right kinds of regional projects.
Since its first meeting in December 1999 in Berlin, the Group of 20 or G20 has come a long way to establish its relevance, credibility and emerge as a premier council for global economic cooperation. Initially set up as a group of Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors of systemically important countries, it proved to be very effective forum for discussing and implementing a globally coordinated response to the global financial and economic crisis since November 2008 when it met for the first time at the Summit level in Washington, DC.
Global macroeconomic imbalances are among the key issues facing policymakers, especially in the US and China which are the two major affected / contributing parties. While there has been a great deal of discussion and disagreement on this important issue, what all sides have in common is the general failure to adequately pay attention to the role of the exchange rate in allocating resources internally between tradables and nontradables. These sectoral changes can have both real and macroeconomic consequences.
Cross-border movements of people within East and South-East Asia have risen with rapidity, much of them driven by the prospect for gainful employment. Although there has been a growing number of articles and publications on international migration in countries in East and South-East Asia, these often focus on selected issues of migration. The present report provides a comprehensive overview of migration in East and South-East Asia and country reports that provide a concise analysis of the key national issues and how they are linked to other countries in the region.
The Asia-Pacific Development Journal (APDJ) is published twice a year by the Macroeconomic Policy and Development Division of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP).
The primary objective of the APDJ is to provide a platform for the exchange of knowledge, experience, ideas, information and data on all aspects of economic and social development issues and concerns facing the region and to stimulate policy debate and assist in the formulation of policy.
Financial development enhances domestic resource mobilisation and also allows these resources to the most productive uses. While there is little doubt that financial development leads to higher economic growth which may then lead to poverty reduction, financial development in itself will allow developing countries to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). We will argue in the paper that a more relevant dimension of financial development that is important for the achievement of the MDGs is inclusiveness of the financial system.
