Asian Officials Benefitted from Peer-to-Peer Discussions on Inclusive and Sustainable Growth
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Media Inquiries
International Monetary Fund
Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific
Press Officer: Yuko Maeda
Tel: 81-(0)3-3597-6719
Email: oapmedia@imf.org
Overview
- Event: Conference “Developing Asia: Achieving Inclusive and Sustainable Growth with Sound Fiscal Management”.
- Co-organizers: International Monetary Fund (IMF) and Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA).
- Date and location: February 13, 2020, Tokyo, Japan.
- Participants: 24 policymakers including finance ministers and central bank governors; economists and specialists from IMF departments and JICA.
- Series context: The conference was the fifth in the series since 2011.
Key findings and quantitative estimates
- IMF research cited by IMF Deputy Managing Director Mitsuhiro Furusawa: developing countries around the globe need to gradually increase their spending to meet the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by up to an estimated 15 percentage points of their combined GDP in 2030.
- Mercedes Garcia-Escribano (IMF Fiscal Affairs Department) estimate for emerging and developing countries in Asia: spending increases would amount to 10 percentage points of their GDP in 2030 to realize the SDGs.
- Emphasis on numeric priorities:
- Increase domestic tax revenue.
- Spend more efficiently through public financial management reforms.
- Boost debt transparency by providing accurate, comprehensive and timely debt data.
Policy recommendations and reforms discussed
- Revenue mobilization:
- Generate more domestic tax revenue through structural reforms.
- Public spending and management:
- Spend better via public financial management reforms, including public investment management and performance budgeting.
- Increase efficiency of planning and spending for universal health care to support inclusive growth.
- Debt management and transparency:
- Strengthen public debt management.
- Provide accurate, comprehensive and timely debt data to boost debt transparency.
- Digital and inclusion policies:
- Introduce electronic retail payments systems to increase financial security, deepen financial inclusion and help curb corruption.
- Human capital and inclusion:
- Educate people, especially women, in technology to make growth more inclusive.
- Support women’s participation in the labor force through better spending on maternal health.
- Public-private partnerships:
- Manage public private partnerships to help ensure high-quality infrastructure investment.
- Political economy:
- Ensure political commitment and gain public support for fiscal discipline while pursuing development objectives.
Regional highlights and sectoral priorities
- Asia (emerging and developing countries):
- Large additional spending needs to realize SDGs; specific estimate: 10 percentage points of GDP in 2030.
- Need to increase tax revenue, improve public financial management, and boost debt transparency.
- South Asia:
- Need to improve productivity in agriculture, expand the manufacturing sector and promote higher-skill services (point raised by IMF Asia and Pacific Department economist Andrew Hodge).
- Regional presenters shared experiences in managing debt to support development objectives.
- Country examples and contributions:
- Egypt and Lao PDR: collaboration across government institutions to increase efficiency of planning and spending for universal health care.
- Afghanistan (Finance Minister Mohammad Humayon Qayoumi): stressed educating people, especially women, in technology for more inclusive growth.
- Philippines (Banko Sentral ng Pilipinas Governor Benjamin Diokno): described efforts to introduce an electronic retail payments system to increase financial security, deepen financial inclusion and help curb corruption.
- Participants from Lao PDR, Mongolia, and JICA: discussed political commitment, public support for fiscal discipline, support for women’s labor force participation, and public private partnership management.
Conference coverage and follow-up
- Topics covered: costs of achieving key SDGs; reform of public finance management; public investment management; performance budgeting; debt management; electronic payments; universal health care planning and spending.
- Outcome: Participants exchanged views and shared experiences during a round table discussion.
- IMF commitment: The IMF will continue to cooperate with other institutions to support its member countries to achieve the SDGs in the context of inclusive and sustainable growth and economic policies.