This study examines the potential of remittances for promoting economic growth and reducing poverty in Asian countries using data for more than 20 countries in the region for 1988-2007. The results indicate that remittances positively affect home country real gross domestic product (GDP) per...

This paper examines the relationships between economic growth, income distribution, and poverty for 17 Asian countries for the period 1981–2001. First, it investigates how much growth is required to offset the adverse effect of an increase in inequality on poverty. This trade-off between...

This report summarizes key results from a 2012 survey of businesses in Papua New Guinea. It compares the results with the 2002 and 2007 surveys and shows that, while the business environment has improved since 2002, doing business in Papua New Guinea remains extremely challenging. Continued...

The Quarterly Economic Update (QEU) provides a comprehensive and updated analysis of the recent economic performance of Sri Lanka. The QEU for July 2012 highlights the expected economic slowdown in 2012. With inflation trending up, monetary tightening is expected to continue for a longer period....

This report investigates urbanization trends across the 14 Pacific developing member countries of the Asian Development Bank. It examines the history of Pacific urbanization, current state of infrastructure and service provision within urban areas, and systems of urban governance. It presents...

Ensuring a secure supply of food is essential, given the world’s (and especially Asia’s) growing population, high and volatile food prices, increasingly scarce resources, and changing environment. This paper discusses the drivers behind food insecurity in Asia and points to ways to mitigate...

The Framework of Inclusive Growth Indicators 2012 (FIGI 2012) is the follow-up edition to FIGI 2011, which proposed a set of 35 indicators as measures of income and non-income outcomes of inclusive growth; the processes and inputs that are important to improve access to opportunities, social...