The South Asian Association of Regional Cooperation (SAARC) is now 25 years old. The charter, which was signed by Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, the Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka in 1985, has many similarities to the founding charters of similar regional associations signed elsewhere....

In the context of the ongoing current global economic downturn, mobilization of foreign exchange earnings has assumed considerable importance. By adopting an augmented Solow model approach, this paper examines the long-run growth effects of Fijis inward remittances during a threedecade period...

Vanuatu is a pure tax haven. Freedom of movement of capital and absence of direct taxation of any kind on citizens and resident expatriates alike made Vanuatu an attractive offshore financial center (OFC) in the Pacific. Vanuatu for its budgetary needs has therefore, been depending on indirect...

Tongas monetary authority, National Reserve Bank of Tonga (NRBT) is entrusted with the responsibility of managing Tongas monetary system and exchange rate stability. This paper undertakes an empirical study of monetary policies pursued by NRBT with specific focus on the transmission mechanism of...

This paper examines the roles of foreign direct investment (FDI) and financial development (FD) in Pacific island countries (PICs), with a case study on Vanuatu. It has been documented in various empirical studies on other regions that well developed financial systems enable countries to take...

Inward remittances have been a great support to Tongan economy. Aside from being a major source of foreign exchange earnings, they supplement domestic savings and real resources. This paper examines how remittance inflows in combination with increased financial development during a 28 year...

Pacific island countries have been affected by the ongoing global economic downturn. The impact of recessionary effects has not been uniform as the degree of global interdependence varies amongst Pacific island countries. By employing a vector autoregression (VAR) model, this paper investigates...

This paper examines liquidity in the banking system under a fixed exchange rate regime. By employing two measurement procedures, it is found during last 15-year period (1994-2008) and particularly, in recent months, there have been large fluctuations in liquidity. They are partly influenced by...

The Pacific island countries (PICs) have been among the worlds top ten recipients of official development assistance (ODA) on a per capita basis. This paper seeks to examine the effectiveness of external aid by undertaking a panel data study covering five countries in the South Pacific, namely...