Conglomeration has traditionally been prevalent in Asia, a trend that is currently exacerbated by the characteristics of digital markets. While conglomerates offer important benefits, from economies of scale and diversification to the development of new products, they can also have a negative...

This edition of the Macro Poverty Outlooks periodical contains country-by-country forecasts and overviews for GDP, fiscal, debt and poverty indicators for the developing countries of the East Asia and the Pacific region. Macroeconomic indicators such as population, gross domestic product and...

Developing East Asia is battling the forces of global recession. The impact of the crisis in the advanced countries was transmitted to the economies of the region with unusual speed. In the region, the initial global financial turbulence was marked by sudden reversals of capital flows in the...

As the global economy finds itself in the worst financial crisis since the great depression, the East Asia and Pacific region has not been spared the full fury of the economic storm. The surge and subsequent drop in food and fuel prices was followed by the intensification in the financial crisis...

This report is written at a time when the East Asia region - having enjoyed a powerful economic rebound in the first half of 2002 is now affected by strong cross-currents and uncertainties in both its external environment and its domestic setting. Within the region, the terrorist attacks at Bali...

Governments' first instincts are often to attempt to tackle weaknesses in public financial accountability by investing in computerization of financial management information systems. However, in most East Asian contexts the World Bank advises countries that reforms need to start not from the...