Policy Shift Needed to Sustain Growth, Development in the Pacific — ADB

With average growth in the Pacific now projected at 2.7% in 2016 and 3.3% in 2017 — the lowest since the global financial and economic crisis — policies to reinvigorate and sustain economic activity need to be prioritized, according to the Asian Development Bank’s (ADB) December 2016 issue of the Pacific Economic Monitor launched on December 6. “The ongoing slowdown highlights the need for continuing policy reforms to boost both short- and longer-run growth prospects across the Pacific,” said Xianbin Yao, Director General of ADB’s Pacific Department. The Monitor, ADB Pacific Department’s flagship economic publication, has been revamped to focus country chapters on current and critical policy issues including fiscal adjustment, disaster preparedness, public investment and state-owned enterprises, and information and communications technology. In Papua New Guinea and Timor-Leste, two of the Pacific’s biggest economies, declining revenue flows from natural resource extraction have prompted budget adjustments to ensure steady economic growth while avoiding excess debt. Capacity development will be important in improving service delivery and raising the quality of public spending moving forward.

Source: http://www.finchannel.com/business/61853-policy-shift-needed-to-sustain-growth-development-in-the-pacific-adb