The Samoan economy has bounced back strongly over the last two years, supported by a recovery in tourism. Fiscal surpluses, in part due to high grant flows, have helped the country emerge from the pandemic with enhanced buffers. At the same time, several longstanding and emerging...

Pacific developing member countries (DMCs) depend heavily on international tourism, which can promote merchandise exports by reducing trade costs. This paper empirically analyzes tourist inflows as a determinant of merchandise exports for Pacific DMCs by deploying a gravity model technique....

When parents migrate from home to another place and leave their children behind, it can have a large influence on their children. This study explores the relationship between parental migration and the learning outcomes of left-behind children aged 7-14 in Pacific Island economies, particularly...

The departmental paper, "Rise of Digital Money: Implications for Pacific Island Countries," delves into the fast-evolving landscape of digital money in a diverse region of extremes in size, remoteness and dispersion, highlighting its significant macroeconomic and financial consequences. It...

The background of high remittance costs and countermeasures against the issue has drawn the attention of policymakers in the Pacific island countries in maximizing the benefits of migration and remittances on their economic development. We use a newly collected household survey about temporary...

Economic output and livelihoods in Pacific Island economies (PIEs) rely greatly on ocean-related sectors and products, known as the "Blue Economy". Yet, marine ecosystems are under mounting pressure of climate change and human degradation, exposing PIEs to very large risks, while they have only...

Tonga's economic activity has strengthened, bolstered by consistent remittance flows, continued tourism recovery, and robust construction activities, despite a fall in agricultural output. The potential for a stronger recovery has, however, been hindered by supply-side constraints including...

Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) small business owners are vital contributors to U.S. economic growth. Nevertheless, this demographic confronts steep impediments to its socioeconomic success in the form of racism and blame for the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition, many AAPI entrepreneurs...

Climate change poses an existential threat to many islands in the Pacific. Small island states in the regionare increasingly vulnerable to extreme rainfall events, cyclones, changes in ocean circulation, and risingsea level. Climate data is a critical resource to help development actors prepare...

The systematic country diagnostic (SCD) covers a group of nine small Pacific Island countries (PIC-9) - Kiribati, Marshall Islands, the Federated States of Micronesia, Nauru, Palau, Samoa, Tonga, Tuvalu, and Vanuatu. The document updates the previous SCD, completed in 2016, and assesses the...

This note provides a deep dive into the quality of nighttime lights (NTL) data for Pacific Island Countries (PICs). It explores their potential to generate and complement regional socio-economic statistics. NTL data has been widely used as a proxy of economic activity. It has been used to both...

This study investigates the patterns of global value chain (GVC) participation of Pacific island countries (PICs) at the country, industry, and firm levels, utilizing UNCTAD-Eora GVC data (1999-2018) and the World Bank's Enterprise Survey data (2009 and 2015). It also uses the survey data to...

The 2023 Article IV Consultation discusses that The Tongan economy is performing strongly, underpinned by resilient remittance inflows and major reconstruction activities following the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Haʻapai volcanic eruption in January 2022. The authorities are confronting a challenging...

This 2023 Article IV Consultation highlights that the Samoan economy has begun recovering after a three-year recession driven by the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. A rebound in economic activity has followed the lifting of domestic COVID-19restrictions in July and the pickup in...

The paper probes the sector-wise presence of volatility persistence, herding behavior and corresponding implications on investors and policymakers in the Oceania region both in Pre-COVID & Post-COVID era. The inspection is based on seven identical sectors from both Australia and New Zealand...

The Pacific Island nations heavily rely on the tuna fishery for government revenue and economic growth. Since the conversion of some nations to the Vessel Days Scheme (VDS) from the fishing Quota system, the region's domestic catch has significantly increased. VDS has stimulated economic return...

This report provides an assessment of the stability of the financial systems of selected Pacific Island Countries (PICs) in the context of COVID-19 and emerging risks. The report brings together an analysis of information provided by the central banks of the PICs covered by this study over the...

Over the two decades preceding the Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, tourism became one of the most important drivers of economic growth across the Pacific. The COVID-19 crisis had a devastating impact on tourism activity in the Pacific, with severe and potentially durable economic...

1 Introduction -- 2 Africa's Least Developed Countries: Missed opportunities -- 3 Asia's Least Developed Countries: Policy Lessons -- 4 Central Asia: Three decades after the economic transition -- 5 The Pacific: Development challenges of small island states -- 6 Path dependence and policy as...

This paper proposes an easy-to-follow approach to track merchandise trade using vessel data and applies it to Pacific island countries. Pacific islands rely heavily on imports and maritime transport for trade. They are also highly vulnerable to climate change and natural disasters that pose...

Pacific island countries (PICs) rely on national airlines for connectivity, trade, and tourism. These airlines are being struck hard by COVID-19. Losses will weigh on public sector balance sheets and pose risks to economic recovery. With a backdrop of tight fiscal space and increasing government...

This paper explores how the international trading system can help achieve sustainability worldwide. It aims to do three things: first, an explanation of how the international trading system (multilaterally, regionally, or bilaterally) helps and contributes to the achievement of the 2030...

This paper explores how the international trading system can help achieve sustainability worldwide. It aims to do three things: first, an explanation of how the international trading system (multilaterally, regionally, or bilaterally) helps and contributes to the achievement of the 2030...

Using a contemporary assessment framework, we assess the energy security status of small Pacific Island Countries (PICs) in line with its three broad perspectives. These perspectives - sovereignty, robustness, and resilience encapsulate vulnerabilities and threats to vital energy systems,...

The purpose of this note is to identify good practice in public sector management drawn from Pacific Island public service experiences of navigating the COVID-19 pandemic. These experiences were brought together through a World Bank engagement with Pacific Island countries in 2021 and 2022. The...

Tonga's nascent economic recovery following Tropical Cyclone Harold and border closures in early 2020 has been severely disrupted by a double blow from the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Haʻapai volcanic eruption and the first local outbreak of COVID-19 at the start of 2022. The authorities are augmenting...