{ "title": "Asia’s Advancing Role in the Global Economy", "publication": "IMF News, March 12, 2016", "sourceUrl": "https://www.imf.org/en/news/articles/2015/09/28/04/53/sp031216", "canonical": "https://www.imf.org/en/news/articles/2015/09/28/04/53/sp031216", "overlayPath": "/en/news/articles/2015/09/28/04/53/sp031216/index.md", "summary": "Speech by Christine Lagarde, Managing Director, International Monetary Fund, New Delhi, India, March 12, 2016. As Prepared For Delivery.", "authors": [ "Christine Lagarde" ], "publishDate": "2016-03-12", "sections": [ { "heading": "Overview", "content": "- Speech by Christine Lagarde, Managing Director, International Monetary Fund, New Delhi, India, March 12, 2016. As Prepared For Delivery.\n- Asia is described as the world’s most dynamic region, accounting for 40 percent of the global economy.\n- Over the next four years—even with slightly declining momentum—it stands to deliver nearly two-thirds of global growth." }, { "heading": "Building on Recent Gains", "content": "- Long-run performance:\n - For the past 25 years—the Asian crisis notwithstanding—the region’s economy has grown by around 6 percent a year.\n - In the aftermath of the recent global financial crisis, Asia was a rare bright spot.\n- Social and human development:\n - Over the past 35 years, this region has been the world’s leader in reducing poverty.\n - Education and health outcomes have improved significantly; living standards have been raised.\n- Innovation and integration:\n - Asia has become a byword for innovation across technology sectors (examples cited: cars, smartphones, televisions, biotechnology, commercial satellites, renewable energy).\n - Increased interconnectedness means Asia affects and is affected by global economic developments more than ever before." }, { "heading": "Global Economic Challenges and Asia’s Response", "content": "- Global challenges listed:\n - Volatile markets and capital flows;\n - Economic transitions and financial tightening in many countries;\n - The large drop in commodity prices, including oil;\n - Escalated geopolitical tensions.\n- Broad policy responses:\n - Supportive monetary policy—consistent with price and external stability objectives;\n - Growth-friendly fiscal measures;\n - Macro-prudential measures to safeguard financial stability.\n- Country-specific structural reform priorities (examples):\n - China: improving the allocation of credit to help rebalance the economy away from debt-led investment.\n - Japan: tackling dual labor markets, liberalizing product markets, and reforming corporate governance.\n - India: enhancing the efficiency of product markets, encouraging private investment, and improving infrastructure.\n - Across many countries: strengthening the business environment and developing bond markets.\n- Purpose: Structural reforms are key to boosting competitiveness, growth, and jobs and to securing medium- and long-term prospects." }, { "heading": "Unlocking Asia’s Potential", "content": "- Inequality and inclusion:\n - Across the region as a whole, income inequality has worsened since 1990.\n - A new IMF staff paper finds that income inequality has since increased in 15 of 22 Asian economies.\n - Asia remains home to two-thirds of the world’s poor, many of whom live in India.\n - In most of the region, women and youth are still greatly underrepresented in the labor market.\n - Regional population: Asia’s 4.4 billion people.\n- Opportunities and policy levers:\n - Broadening access to services like health and finance:\n - India is targeting universal access to banking services by 2018.\n - Through the Pradhan Mantri Jan-Dhan Yojana scheme, over 210 million previously unbanked people have opened a bank account since August 2014, with social transfers paid directly.\n - Leveraging fiscal policy:\n - Target social spending on the neediest; avoid costly across-the-board subsidies; make taxes more progressive.\n - India’s Aadhaar system: almost 1 billion people have Aadhaar numbers, with potential to deliver payments and other services—including for women.\n - Example: Philippines pioneered conditional cash transfer programs.\n - Empowering women:\n - Enhance girls’ access to high quality education; dismantle legal and logistical barriers to economic participation; make it more practical for women to combine a job and a family.\n - Example: Beti-Bachao, Beti-Padhao initiative to improve women’s welfare services.\n - Labor market formalization:\n - Tackling duality and informality to bring more young people into formal jobs—important for countries with aging populations.\n - Infrastructure and services:\n - More than 800 million people in Asia lack access to water, sanitation and electricity—inclusive growth requires more and more efficient infrastructure investment.\n - Trade integration:\n - Even-greater trade integration can support sustained growth, especially for India and other South Asian countries.\n - Multilateral trade liberalization can be globally welfare-enhancing; in its absence, comprehensive regional trade agreements can lower tariff and non-tariff barriers and incorporate new areas like services.\n - Climate change:\n - Last December, 186 countries submitted mitigation pledges in the context of the historic Paris Agreement.\n - Implementation requires actions such as carbon pricing and energy subsidy reforms; Asia has a massive stake in this effort." }, { "heading": "Asia and the IMF", "content": "- Institutional and governance developments:\n - Quota and governance reforms came into effect earlier this year that enhance the representation of emerging Asian economies within our 188 member countries.\n - One consequence is that India now joins China and Japan among the Fund’s top ten shareholders.\n - The renminbi was included as the second Asian currency in the IMF’s SDR currency basket—joining the yen.\n- Engagement and capacity development:\n - In 2018, Indonesia will host the IMF Annual Meetings.\n - The Fund is opening a new Regional Training and Technical Assistance Center for South Asia in New Delhi—its first fully integrated center and a model for future capacity development work.\n - Partner countries in the center: India, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Maldives, Nepal, and Sri Lanka; external partners include Australia and Republic of Korea.\n - The Government of India offered to host the center and made a substantial financial commitment." }, { "heading": "Conclusion: Asia’s Global Leadership", "content": "- Asia’s dynamism presents a historic opportunity to invest now in the future—and to advance Asia.\n- Doing so will put Asia on the path to sustained growth and strengthen its role in the global economy—as a key contributor and as a leader for the 21st Century.\n\nSource: \"Asia’s Advancing Role in the Global Economy,\" By Christine Lagarde, Managing Director, International Monetary Fund, March 12, 2016.\n\n---\n\n Content in this bundle\n\n- 031216cpdf (PDF){rel=\"external\" type=\"application/pdf\"}\n- 031216jpdf (PDF){rel=\"external\" type=\"application/pdf\"}\n\n---\n\n References\n\n- India and the IMF\n- Speeches\n- Christine Lagarde\n- Conference: Advancing Asia\n- PRESS CENTER\n- Asia and Pacific: Stabilizing and Outperforming Other Regions\n- IMF Working Paper: Asia’s Quest for Inclusive Growth Revisited\n3IMF Working Paper: Sharing the Growth Dividend: Analysis of Inequality in Asia\n4IMF Working Paper: Asia’s Quest for Inclusive Growth Revisited\n5 “Prime Minister’s Community Wealth-Building Scheme”\n6 “Save girl child and educate her”\n- Sharing the Growth Dividend: Analysis of Inequality in Asia\n4IMF Working Paper: Asia’s Quest for Inclusive Growth Revisited\n5 “Prime Minister’s Community Wealth-Building Scheme”\n6 “Save girl child and educate her”\n- https://www.imf.org/en/home\n\nSource: https://www.imf.org/en/news/articles/2015/09/28/04/53/sp031216" } ], "bullets": [ "[Markdown version](/en/news/articles/2015/09/28/04/53/sp031216/index.md)", "[Structured JSON version](/en/news/articles/2015/09/28/04/53/sp031216/index.json)", "[Bundle manifest](/en/news/articles/2015/09/28/04/53/sp031216/bundle-manifest.json)", "Authors: Christine Lagarde", "Published: March 12, 2016", "Speech by Christine Lagarde, Managing Director, International Monetary Fund, New Delhi, India, March 12, 2016. As Prepared For Delivery.", "Asia is described as the world’s most dynamic region, accounting for 40 percent of the global economy.", "Over the next four years—even with slightly declining momentum—it stands to deliver nearly two-thirds of global growth.", "Long-run performance:", "Social and human development:", "Innovation and integration:", "Global challenges listed:", "Broad policy responses:", "Country-specific structural reform priorities (examples):", "Purpose: Structural reforms are key to boosting competitiveness, growth, and jobs and to securing medium- and long-term prospects.", "Inequality and inclusion:", "Opportunities and policy levers:", "Institutional and governance developments:", "Engagement and capacity development:", "Asia’s dynamism presents a historic opportunity to invest now in the future—and to advance Asia.", "Doing so will put Asia on the path to sustained growth and strengthen its role in the global economy—as a key contributor and as a leader for the 21st Century.", "[031216cpdf (PDF)](/-/media/websites/imf/imported/external/chinese/np/speeches/2016/031216cpdf.pdf){rel=\"external\" type=\"application/pdf\"}", "[031216jpdf (PDF)](/-/media/websites/imf/imported/external/japanese/np/speeches/2016/031216jpdf.pdf){rel=\"external\" type=\"application/pdf\"}", "[India and the IMF](http://www.imf.org/external/country/IND/index.htm)", "[Speeches](https://www.imf.org/en/news/searchnews)", "[Christine Lagarde](https://www.imf.org/external/np/omd/bios/cl.htm)", "[Conference: Advancing Asia](https://www.imf.org/external/np/seminars/eng/2016/advancingasia/)", "[PRESS CENTER](http://presscenter.imf.org/)", "[Asia and Pacific: Stabilizing and Outperforming Other Regions](https://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/reo/2015/apd/eng/areo0415.htm)", "[IMF Working Paper: Asia’s Quest for Inclusive Growth Revisited", "[Sharing the Growth Dividend: Analysis of Inequality in Asia", "[https://www.imf.org/en/home](https://www.imf.org/en/home)" ], "related": [ { "title": "031216cpdf", "role": "document", "sourceUrl": "https://www.imf.org/-/media/websites/imf/imported/external/chinese/np/speeches/2016/031216cpdf.pdf", "binary": { "path": "/-/media/websites/imf/imported/external/chinese/np/speeches/2016/031216cpdf.pdf", "mime": "application/pdf" } }, { "title": "031216jpdf", "role": "document", "sourceUrl": "https://www.imf.org/-/media/websites/imf/imported/external/japanese/np/speeches/2016/031216jpdf.pdf", "binary": { "path": "/-/media/websites/imf/imported/external/japanese/np/speeches/2016/031216jpdf.pdf", "mime": "application/pdf" } } ], "alternates": { "markdown": "/en/news/articles/2015/09/28/04/53/sp031216/index.md", "json": "/en/news/articles/2015/09/28/04/53/sp031216/index.json", "bundleManifest": "/en/news/articles/2015/09/28/04/53/sp031216/bundle-manifest.json" }, "generatedAtUtc": "2026-09-27T09:28:35.560Z" }