Growth in Asia and the Pacific outperformed expectations in late 2023, reaching 5.0 percent for the year. Inflation has continued to decline, albeit at varying speeds: some economies are still seeing sustained price pressures, while others are facing deflationary risks.In 2024, growth is projected to slow modestly to 4.5 percent. …
With timely actions and sound policies, India can turn the COVID-19 pandemic—one of the greatest economic and social crises of our lifetime—into an opportunity to transform its economy and society. The unprecedented nature of the crisis has exposed the limits of the current development model, thereby providing an occasion to …
While the global growth outlook has improved, led by robust rebound in China and the United States, surging COVID-19 infections and inadequate vaccination progress in many countries threaten a broad-based recovery of the world economy, says the latest United Nations forecast released. According to the World Economic Situation and Prospects …
NITI Aayog and Mastercard released a report titled ‘Connected Commerce: Creating a Roadmap for a Digitally Inclusive Bharat’. The report identifies challenges in accelerating digital financial inclusion in India and provides recommendations for making digital services accessible to its 1.3 billion citizens. Based on five roundtable discussions held in October …
While increasing expenditures to 10 percent would help to spur agricultural development, data presented in this report for sub-Saharan Africa indicate that many countries have not yet reached the objective pledged in Maputo. Nevertheless, understanding how public money is spent has much to reveal. For that reason, this report analyses …
Global prospects remain highly uncertain one year into the pandemic. New virus mutations and the accumulating human toll raise concerns, even as growing vaccine coverage lifts sentiment. Economic recoveries are diverging across countries and sectors, reflecting variation in pandemic-induced disruptions and the extent of policy support. The outlook depends not …
Malawi’s many smallholders rely heavily on rainfed, low-input subsistence farming to meet their food needs. Yet for most rural Malawian households, subsistence agriculture cannot consistently produce enough food to ward off hunger. Nor can they rely on the country’s weak markets to buy additional food they may require or to …
Modern economic policy making in Nigeria has placed enormous emphasis on diversification of the economy to non-oil productive sectors. With the aim to restore economic growth following the 2015-16 recession and lay the foundations for long-term structural change, the economic growth and recovery plan (ERGP) recognized the need to diversify …
The Bhutan Development Update (BDU) is published annually. It assesses recent economic and social developments, prospects, and policies in Bhutan. The BDU also provides an in-depth analysis of selected economic and policy issues. In this edition, the special section focuses on e-trade, outlining opportunities and challenges in harnessing digital trade …
The African Development Bank, UN Food and Agriculture Organization and CGIAR’s Alliance of Biodiversity International Center and Big Data in Agriculture Platform created digital agriculture country profiles aimed at helping bolster agricultural transformation and accelerate economic growth. The South Africa country analysis maps out digital issues and opportunities related to …
The African Development Bank, UN Food and Agriculture Organization and CGIAR’s Alliance of Biodiversity International Center and Big Data in Agriculture Platform created digital agriculture country profiles aimed at helping bolster agricultural transformation and accelerate economic growth. The Rwanda country analysis maps out digital issues and opportunities related to the …
The African Development Bank, UN Food and Agriculture Organization and CGIAR’s Alliance of Biodiversity International Center and Big Data in Agriculture Platform created digital agriculture country profiles aimed at helping bolster agricultural transformation and accelerate economic growth. The Côte d’Ivoire country analysis maps out digital issues and opportunities related to …
The main objective of the study was to develop a framework for designing and implementing local content policies in Ethiopia driven by the mining sector. The Ethiopian government’s vision is to transform the country into a lower middle income industrial economy by 2025. To achieve this, the economy would need …
Prior to 1 February 2021, 2.8 million people were considered food insecure in Myanmar. WFP estimates that 1.5 to 3.4 million additional people could be at risk of food insecurity and in need of assistance due to the economic slowdown provoked by the political crisis in the coming three to …
Global energy-related carbon dioxide emissions are estimated to increase by 1.5 billion tonnes in 2021 - the biggest annual rise in emissions since 2010, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA). This increase to be driven by a strong rebound in demand for coal in electricity generation will reverse the …
Air pollution costs Indian business about USD 95 billion (7 lakh crores) every fiscal year, around 3% of India’s total GDP, a major research report shows. The cost is equal to 50% of all tax collected annually, or 150% of India’s healthcare budget. The findings in the report, undertaken by …
Indonesia’s comparatively low rate of taxation, exacerbated by falling revenues during the COVID-19 pandemic, has created significant fiscal problems. Well-designed transport fuel taxes can be an effective and efficient way to fill this gap, as demonstrated by experience in India. Over the past decade, India transitioned from high transport fuel …
Agriculture plays a central role in Bangladesh’s economy, especially in rural areas, and further progress in agriculture will remain important as Bangladesh’s economy continues to evolve. Bangladesh has made significant agricultural policy reforms since the 1980s, which has largely contributed to achieving self-sufficiency in rice production. However, these policies are …
The economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in Sub-Saharan Africa has been severe; however, countries are weathering the storm so far. Real GDP is estimated to contract by 2.0 percent in 2020—close to the lower bound of the forecast range in April 2020, and less than the contraction in advanced …
Around 1 in 8 countries globally spends more on debt than on social services, according to a UNICEF report. COVID-19 and the Looming Debt Crisis notes that 25 countries globally – the majority of them already burdened by poverty and deprivation – spent a higher proportion of total government expenditure …
This paper assesses the socioeconomic impacts of Covid-19 in three South Asian economies -- Pakistan, Afghanistan, Sri Lanka -- and corresponding fiscal policy responses to mitigate these impacts. Further, it appraises the sufficiency of these fiscal policy responses to support the economic recovery in respective economies. It also estimates fiscal …
