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Incorporating non-traditional data sources official statistics : the case of consumer price indexes
No full textThis publication is the lessons and experiences from Australia, Japan and New Zealand in case of Consumer Prices Indexes.
Consumer Price Indexes (CPIs) are one of the highest profile official statistics produced by any National Statistical Office (NSO). CPIs measure the changing price of the goods and services that households buy. While internationally there some differences in the concepts and methods used to compile CPIs, they are generally used for similar purposes in most countries. These purposes include: being a tool for monetary policy, an economic indicator, and being used for the indexation of contracts and government transfer payments
Universal access and service fund
Get PDFExtending information and communications technology (ICT) connectivity to remote and rural areas has been a perennial challenge in the development community
APSDJ
No full textThe objective of the present paper is to examine the extent to which economic growth and public social expenditure in Asia and the Pacific have translated into an increasing middle class. Using international poverty lines and an absolute definition of the middle class, it is estimated that between 1999 and 2015, 1.2 billion people moved into the Asia-Pacific middle class
and that the share tripled, from 13 to 39 per cent of the total population. This expansion, however, did not translate into an income-secure middle class, as almost one billion people are vulnerable and at risk of falling back into poverty. Examination at the country-level reveals that large disparities
persist in the region, as most countries need to sustain economic growth and at the same time guarantee that the gains are sufficiently distributed to increase the size of the middle class.Orlando Zambrano Roman - An emerging but vulnerable middle class: a description of trends in Asia and the Pacific ... 1
Sunil Puliyakot - Determinants of overindebtedness among microfinance borrowers: a poverty line-based approach ... 21
Anna Naupa and Derek Brien - Fostering peaceful sustainable development in the Pacific under the 2030 agenda ... 43
Zulfiya Suleimenova - Water security in Central Asia and Southern Caucasus ... 75
Grace Puliyel, Hoolda Kim and Sophie Mitra - Paid maternity leave and child mortality in Asia and the Pacific ... 9
A note on the status of APTA trade in healthcare sector related products in the context of the response to the COVID-19 pandemic
Get PDFThis paper examines the COVID-19 related product’s tariff rate and concessions in APTA
An update on Asia-Pacific economies' preferential trade agreements
Get PDF- The Asia-Pacific region continues to be the largest contributor to the worldwide build-up of Preferential Trade Agreements (PTAs). Looking at the stock of PTAs with at least one regional party, 183 trade agreements are in force, 15 are signed and pending ratification, and 98 are still under negotiation (as of September 2020).
- A majority of PTAs go beyond the liberalization of trade in goods, with 54% of all enforced PTAs in the region covering both goods and services.
- Bilateral PTAs account for approximately 78% of all PTAs in force. In terms of geographical coverage, 49% of all Asia-Pacific region PTAs are with economies outside of the region, which reinforces Asia-Pacific economies’ actively participation in dialogue partners within and outside the region.
- Between January 2018 and September 2020, 23 new PTAs were signed that had at least one Asia-Pacific region economy. Of these, 11 were signed in 2018, 10 in 2019, and 2 in 2020 (as of September 2020).
- The number of newly signed PTAs in the Asia-Pacific region has notably declined since the start of 2020. This was mostly due to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, which not only disrupted international trade flows, but also compromised trade negotiations and worldwide cooperation. From the 8 outstanding PTA initiatives started since January 2019 (7 intraregional and 1 extra regional) only 2 have commenced negotiations during 2020.
- New trade agreements tend to be more comprehensive. Most new agreements signed in the region cover issues such as investment, labour standards, intellectual property rights, and environmental standards. In fact, all 11 agreements signed from 2019 to 2020 – except the EAEU-Serbia PTA – go beyond trade of goods liberalization.
- The United Kingdom’s efforts to roll over its preferential arrangements, previously covered by the EU-third country trade agreements, after Brexit may raise the number (if not the coverage) of Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreements (CEPA) in the region over the next few years. As of September 2020, the United Kingdom has signed agreements replicating elements of EU-third party agreements with selected Asia-Pacific economies, including the Pacific states (Fiji and Papua New Guinea), Georgia, the Republic of Korea, and Japan. The United Kingdom government is also in discussions to roll over the European Union preferential trade arrangement with Turkey and negotiate new agreements with Australia and New Zealand.
- Trade agreements have increasingly included digital trade issues: 7 of the 12 trade agreements signed between 2019-2020 already include specific e-commerce provisions. Moreover, the first Digital Trade Agreement (DTA) was signed in 2019 between the United States and Japan. So far, the region has successfully signed 2 more DTAs and 1 more is under negotiation.
- The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) is scheduled to be signed in November 2020 by all RCEP dialogue partners except India. Once it is, this will become the biggest free-trade agreement, covering 28% of the world’s GDP. However, uncertainties regarding India’s participation remain, hindering the realization of RCEP’s economic potential
Opportunity next door : an analysis of India market entry strategies of Sri Lankan firms
Get PDFSri Lanka and India have a bilateral free trade agreement that spans twenty years, and although exports from Sri Lanka to its large neighbouring market has grown over time, the market entry performance has been somewhat lacklustre. Yet, the success of some Sri Lankan firms holds useful insights on what has worked and what has not. The present paper, based on surveying firms and in-depth interviews, assesses the India entry strategies of leading Sri Lankan firms that have established themselves and seen success in India. Their experience bears lessons for others seeking to access the large and growing Indian middle-class market, and provides some salutary messages for trade promotion and facilitation entities to boost bilateral trade
Water and climate change
Get PDFThe UNESCO World Water Assessment Programme (WWAP) recognizes the valuable contributions of FAO, SIWI,
UNDP, UNESCO-IHP, UN-Habitat, UNIDO, UNU-INWEH, WHO, WMO and the World Bank whose inputs as chapter
lead agencies made the content preparation of this report possible. Sincere appreciation goes to the GWP, ODI,
the UN Regional Commissions (UNECA, UNECE, UNECLAC, UNESCAP and UNESCWA) and the UNESCO Office in
Nairobi for co-leading Chapter 10 on regional perspectives. We also would like to thank those UN-Water members
and partners and all other organizations and individuals who provided useful contributions and comments
throughout the production process.Climate change affects – and is affected by – global water resources. It reduces the predictability of water availability and affects water quality. Climate change also increases the occurrence of extreme weather events, threatening sustainable social-economic development and biodiversity worldwide. This, in turn, has profound implications for water resources. As such, climate change exacerbates the ever-growing challenges associated with the sustainable management of water. Conversely, the way water is managed influences the drivers of climate change.
Water, therefore, is the ultimate connector in the global commitments towards a sustainable future: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are highly dependent on improved water management. Within the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction, adopted by UN Member States in March, 2015, water management is essential for reducing the occurrence and impacts of water-related disasters, which have the largest effect on society and people’s livelihoods. And the implementation of the Paris Agreement is dependent on improved management of water resources. This is clearly acknowledged in many countries’ Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and adapt to the impacts of climate change under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. Adaptation initiatives related to water, for example, have been included as a first priority in many NDCs.
The 2020 edition of the UN World Water Development Report addresses the critical linkages between water and climate change in the context of sustainable development. It also serves as a guide for concrete actions to address these challenges. It outlines actions, supported by examples from across the world, in three areas: first, enabling people to adapt to the impacts of climate change; second, improving the resilience of livelihoods; and, third, reducing the drivers of climate change. Critically, measures to improve the efficiency of water use in agriculture - while at the same time ensuring water access for vulnerable groups such as smallholder farmers - is inextricably linked to multiple SDGs. These include those related to zero hunger (SDG 2), availability and access to water (SDG 6), climate action (SDG 13), and promoting the sustainable use of ecosystem services (SDG 15).
The Report concludes that reducing both the impacts and drivers of climate change will require substantial changes in the way we use and reuse the Earth’s limited water resources. The experience and expertise needed to achieve this goal are brought together in the Report through UN-Water’s Members and Partners. I would like to thank them all for the development of this flagship publication. I am grateful to UNESCO and its World Water Assessment Programme for coordinating the production of this report. I am confident that it will support policy makers in tackling the challenges of climate change by harnessing the wide-ranging opportunities that improved water management offers for adaptation, mitigation and resilience in a rapidly changing world.The financial contribution from the Italian GovernmentPrologue: The state of water resources in the context of climate change
Chapter 1. Climate change, water and sustainable development
Chapter 2. International policy frameworks
Chapter 3. Water availability, infrastructure and ecosystems
Chapter 4. Water-related extremes and risk management
Chapter 5. Human health impacts related to water, sanitation and climate change
Chapter 6. Agriculture and food security
Chapter 7. Energy and industry
Chapter 8. Human settlements
Chapter 9. Water-climate-energy-food-environment nexus
Chapter 10. Regional perspectives
Chapter 11. Water governance for resilience to climate change
Chapter 12. Climate finance: financial end economic considerations
Chapter 13. Technological innovation and citizen knowledge
Chapter 14. Moving forwar
A framework for country studies on MSME's access to finance in Asia and the Pacific
Get PDFThe difficulties of micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSME) to access finance has been well known and documented for a long time, and governments and related agencies have set up various policies and mechanisms to facilitate the flow of finance
Provisional programme. 2020 SPECA Economic Forum
No full textTheme: Regional Cooperation to Support Socioeconomic Recovery in the Wake of COVID-1
