Finance

The Economic Outlook for Southeast Asia, China and India is a regular publication on regional economic growth and development in Emerging Asia. It focuses on the economic conditions of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) member countries: Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Viet Nam. It also addresses relevant economic issues in China and India to fully reflect developments in the region. This Update presents the region’s economic outlook, depicting rapidly changing trends and macroeconomic challenges amidst external headwinds.

Subnational governments’ capacity to effectively fund and deliver public services are crucial for the realisation of the benefits of decentralisation. However, subnational capacities often suffer from significant weaknesses, ranging from inadequate assignments of own-revenues, through to flaws in tax administration, the design of intergovernmental transfers, spending assignments and various aspects of public financial management. The volume discusses how better diagnostics and more strategic reforms can contribute to easing the resource constraints on subnational governments, as well as creating appropriate incentives for these governments to improve performance. The volume includes studies of the enabling conditions for subnational capacity building in Asia, as well as focused studies of China and India's fiscal relations challenges.

The COVID-19 crisis has had a profound impact on SME access to finance. In particular, the sudden drop in revenues created acute liquidity shortages, threatening the survival of many viable businesses. The report documents an increase in demand for bank lending in the first half of 2020, and a steady supply of credit thanks to government interventions. On the other hand, other sources of finance declined, in particular early-stage equity. This paper, a special edition of Financing SMEs and Entrepreneurs, focuses on the impacts of COVID-19 on SME access to finance, along with government policy responses. It reveals that the pre-crisis financing environment was broadly favourable for SMEs and entrepreneurs, who benefited from low interest rates, loose credit standards and an increasingly diverse offer of financing instruments. It documents the unprecedented scope and scale of the policy responses undertaken by governments world-wide, and details their key characteristics, and outlines the principal issues and policy challenges for the next phases of the pandemic, such as the over-indebtedness of SMEs and the need to continue to foster a diverse range of financing instruments for SMEs.

Populations in OECD and emerging economies are ageing rapidly, which will have significant macroeconomic impacts, including on public expenditures and tax revenues. The rules and practices that govern fiscal relations among different levels of government, such as their responsibilities for taxation, spending and debt management, have a bearing on economic efficiency and ultimately growth. The consequences of population ageing at subnational government levels are especially intense. Many local governments are vulnerable to the ageing of their populations from a fiscal perspective. The economic and fiscal challenges of an ageing population go beyond intergovernmental boundaries, and they require complex intergovernmental policy responses. This volume brings together cross-country studies of fiscal policy, demographics and spatial productivity, as well as country studies of Brazil, Canada, China and Germany.

The State continues to remain an important shareholder in listed companies worldwide, especially among emerging economies, which rely increasingly on mixed-ownership models. With the benefit of hindsight and more recent examples, this book provides fresh perspectives on the motivation to list state-owned enterprises (SOEs) and the process it entails. Drawing from the experiences of five economies (People's Republic of China, India, New Zealand, Poland and Turkey), the book concludes that broadened ownership generally has a positive impact on the governance and performance of these companies. However, country practices show that the act of listing cannot guarantee that these companies are completely averse to State interests; and deviations from sound corporate governance practices, as enshrined in the OECD Guidelines on Corporate Governance of SOEs, can in some cases, raise concerns with regards to non-State shareholder rights, commercial orientation, board independence, conflicting State objectives, transparency, disclosure and more.

This edition of the Southeast Asian Economic Outlook examines medium-term growth prospects, recent macroeconomic policy challenges, and structural challenges including human capital, infrastructure and SME development.  It also looks at economic disparities 'between' and 'within' countries in the region.  It provides coverage for Brunei, Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Viet Nam. While solid growth is forecast to continue until 2017, countries must address structural issues in order to sustain this favourable outlook. Narrowing development gaps presents one of the region’s most important challenges.