The Australia–United States free trade agreement (AUSFTA) came into effect in 2005. It was the second preferential trade agreement that Australia signed, after its agreement with Singapore, and marked a departure from the primacy of Australia’s previous trade policy of unilateral...

This paper reviews the experience of undertaking reforms in Indonesia after the economic crisis 1997/98, focusing on the reforms made under the last two presidents : Megawati and Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono. The review leads the paper to draw some lessons from the experience. Among other, the role...

Despite creating a record of number of jobs in 2007 and 2008 (237,000 jobs in 2007 and 202,400 jobs in the first three quarters of 2008) and averaging a growth rate of nearly 10 percent from 2004 to 2007, Singapore was the first East Asian country to fall into a recession from the current global...

This paper reviews and highlights lessons from the stabilisation and reform programme that Thailand, Malaysia and Korea implemented in response to the 1997 crisis. The three countries rapid recovery from a deep economic downturn in 1998 and their reduced vulnerability to balance of payments...

The policy measures taken to date in the Asia-Pacific region are helping to cushion the blow of the global recession. Monetary and fiscal policy stimulus has been strong and there has been considerable attention given to strengthening the financial system. Questions, however, remain about how...