Spotlight Archives
- Asia Bond Monitor, November 2009November 2009Total bonds outstanding in emerging East Asia's local currency bond markets reached a new threshold of USD4.2 trillion at end-September 2009, says the latest issue of the Asia Bond Monitor. Balanced growth, especially in markets outside of the People's Republic of China, and strong corporate bond sector performance, were distinguishing features of the market's growth in 3Q09. Read more.
- ADB Working Paper Series on Regional Economic Integration No. 39: Complements or Substitutes? Preferential and Multilateral Trade Liberalization at the Sectoral LevelNovember 2009Mitsuyo Ando, Antoni Estevadeordal and Christian Volpe Martincus explore the relationships between preferential and multilateral trade liberalizations in Latin America at both the aggregate and sectoral levels. They find that while regional trade liberalization has a complementary effect on multilateral trade liberalization in general, the effects seem to vary across sectors, depending on specific country-sector characteristics such as import demand elasticities and revealed comparative advantages. Read more.
- Designing and Implementing Trade Facilitation in Asia and the PacificNovember 2009This reference book aims to support the implementation of trade facilitation measures and reforms in Asia and the Pacific. It attempts to bridge the gaps among policy makers, practitioners, and economists by outlining operational guidance on how to assess the status of trade facilitation, what measures and reforms are necessary, and how to implement them at national and regional levels. Download latest copy.
- President Kuroda addresses joint ADB/ADBI conference on Asian architecture and global governance 29 October 2009ADB President Haruhiko Kuroda addressed a conference on Asian Architecture and Global Governance on 29 October 2009 at the ADB Headquarters. He encouraged participants to come up with concrete recommendations for improving global governance and strengthening the regional financial architecture. Read the President's speech. See agenda.
- ADB Working Paper Series on Regional Economic Integration No. 35 - Regional Economic Impacts of Cross-Border Infrastructure: A General Equilibrium Application to Thailand and Lao PDR 12 October 2009Peter Warr, Jayant Menon and Arief Anshory Yusuf analyze economic impacts of the Second Mekong International Bridge linking Mukdahan Province in Thailand with Savannakhet Province in Lao PDR and find that reductions in transport costs increase trade volumes and incomes in both regions. Read more.
- ADB Working Paper Series on Regional Economic Integration No. 36 - Exchange Rate Regimes in the Asia-Pacific Region and the Global Financial CrisisOctober 2009Warwick McKibbin and Waranya Pim Chanthapun examine the impacts of a global financial crisis on the Asia and Pacific region and find that under the current regime, adjustment is substantial but quite different from the 1997/98 Asian financial crisis because of the global nature of the current crisis. Read more.
- Asia Bond Monitor, September 200915 September 2009Growing corporate issuance along with government funding for economic stimulus packages drove growth in emerging East Asia's local currency bond markets in the first half of 2009, says the latest edition of the Asia Bond Monitor. Local bond markets have emerged as a key source of finance for companies in these volatile times, but they remain dominated by state-owned entities, infrastructure companies and banks. Download report.
- ADB Working Paper Series on Regional Economic Integration No. 34: Beyond the Crisis: Financial Regulatory Reform in Emerging AsiaSeptember 2009In this paper, Chee Sung Lee and Cyn-Young Park propose measures to address the gaps and weaknesses in emerging Asia's financial regulatory and supervisory systems based on lessons drawn from the global crisis.
- ADBI Working Paper - Asian FTAs: Trends and ChallengesAugust 2009With the current impasse in the WTO Doha Round, free trade agreements (FTAs) have become Asia's main trade policy instrument. This has sparked concerns about the negative effects of Asian FTAs including the "noodle bowl problem". This study by Masahiro Kawai and Ganeshan Wignaraja examines the challenges posed by Asian FTAs and provides a pragmatic approach to minimizing their costs while maximizing their benefits. A bottom-up approach to a Doha Round Agreement emerges from the paper. Read more.
- July 2009 Asia Economic Monitor 23 July 2009Emerging East Asia has entered the transition from recession to a possible V-shaped recovery, with growth dropping sharply this year before returning to 2008 levels in 2010, says ADB’s July issue of the Asia Economic Monitor (AEM), launched 23 July in Bangkok. Following the launch, a joint seminar was held with the Thailand Development Research Institute examining longer-term issues related to financial regulatory reform and financial stability in the region. Download report.
