This paper draws a concise overview of the economic relationship between the European Union (EU) and selected Asian regions in the context of the twin transition - green and digital. A series of significant initiatives adopted in recent years to consolidate the cooperation with these regions are...

Growth prospects for South Asia have dimmed. The global economic environment has become more challenging and is a source of heightened downside risks. After a decade of repeated disruptions, South Asia's buffers to cushion new shocks are slim. Tackling some of its greatest inefficiencies and...

Transitioning from fossil fuel usage to the adoption of green energy is crucial for mitigating the adverse impacts of greenhouse gas emissions. There is an urgent imperative to shift the economy away from reliance on non-renewable energy sources towards renewable alternatives to address...

During the last two decades, South Asia has faced extreme climate change events of heatwaves, floods, storms, droughts, and fires, affecting economies and millions of people. Meantime, the region has also experienced a notable change in economic growth, population aging, and unemployment rate....

Limited data on micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) make it difficult for governments to design appropriate MSME policies in Asia and the Pacific. To identify factors affecting MSME development and promote evidence-based policymaking, we propose a probabilistic principal component...

Projecting migration is challenging, due to the context-specific and discontinuous relations between migration and the socioeconomic and environmental conditions that drive this process. Here, we investigate the usefulness of Machine Learning (ML) Random Forest (RF) models to develop three net...

Transitioning from fossil fuel usage to the adoption of green energy is crucial for mitigating the adverse impacts of greenhouse gas emissions. There is an urgent imperative to shift the economy away from reliance on non-renewable energy sources towards renewable alternatives to address...

Income convergence refers to the idea that poor countries grow more quickly than rich ones and catch up in terms of per capita income; as a result, the per capita income of integrated nations eventually converges. Beta convergence suggests that less developed nations grow more quickly than more...

In this study, we examine the critical question of whether global equity and bond assets (both green and non-green) offer effective hedging and safe haven properties against stock market risks in South Asia, with a focus on Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka. The increasing integration...

Ensuring liquidity is critical for the functioning of banks. This study investigates the functional form of bank profitability and liquid asset holdings. We test for an inverted Kuznets curve-shaped quadratic polynomial relationship using generalized least square regression on an unbalanced...

This Guidance Note represents a call to action, dedicated to enhancing access to land and unlocking the full potential of land assets for urban and infrastructure development, as well as renewable energy investments. It not only underscores the importance of improving land access but also...

This edition of the Macro Poverty Outlooks periodical contains country-by-country forecasts and overviews for GDP, fiscal, debt and poverty indicators for the developing countries of the South Asia region. Macroeconomic indicators such as population, gross domestic product and gross domestic...

South Asia is expected to continue to be the fastest-growing emerging market and developing economy (EMDE) region over the next two years. This is largely thanks to robust growth in India, but growth is also expected to pick up in most other South Asian economies. However, growth in the...

The inflow of FDI brings many economic benefits including more employment opportunities, sharing of modern knowledge, and the transfer of needed capital to aid the depressing domestic investment. In view of this, the current study aims to find out the empirical impact of the governance quality...

Limited data on micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) make it difficult for governments to design appropriate MSME policies in Asia and the Pacific. To identify factors affecting MSME development and promote evidence-based policymaking, we propose a probabilistic principal component...

The South Asia Subregional Economic Cooperation (SASEC) area experiences rapid economic growth with an abundant population, expecting to increase the cargo transport demand. However, weak infrastructure and cross-border systems could hinder the future growth of the area. We examine the impact of...

During the last two decades, South Asia has faced extreme climate change events of heatwaves, floods, storms, droughts, and fires, affecting economies and millions of people. Meantime, the region has also experienced a notable change in economic growth, population aging, and unemployment rate....

The concept of digital financial inclusion (DFI) has gained considerable attention in recent years due to its emergence as a prominent development strategy in several nations. While environmental sustainability is one of the biggest aims of the earth today. This study examines the impact of DFI...

South Asia is the most polluted region in the world and is struggling to deal with the effects of growing CO2 emissions and the ecological impact it has left. The region needs to identify the variables that are most effective in reducing pollution in order to achieve long-term sustainable...

This study investigates the working conditions of subnational government (SNG) employees in select South and Southeast Asian countries, viz. Bangladesh, Nepal, Malaysia, Indonesia, and the Philippines. It is situated in the context of decentralized governance which transfers powers,...

Global evidence is mounting that more gender diversity in banking, including having more women in leadership, leads to better outcomes for organizations, their employees, and investors. There is increasing recognition of the importance of workforce diversity and equity along various dimensions,...

The eastern South Asia region (Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, and Nepal) has extensive networks of all the main modes of surface transport for the movement of goods, both within and between countries. However, goods transport in the region is heavily dependent on a single mode-road...

Global evidence is mounting that more gender diversity in banking, including having more women in leadership, leads to better outcomes for organizations, their employees, and investors. There is increasing recognition of the importance of workforce diversity and equity along various dimensions,...

In 2022-2023, the International Finance Corporation (IFC) initiated a multi-country research study focusing on women's advancement in private commercial banking in South Asia. The study covered 20 private commercial banks across three countries - Bangladesh, Nepal, and Sri Lanka. As the largest...

Remittances are the largest sources of foreign funds and are critical for economic development in South Asia. However, they have been found to damage the environment by promoting the production and consumption of energy-intensive products and pose challenges for achieving Sustainable Development...

As a long-lasting and ongoing economic problem, inflation significantly affects how society views socioeconomic concerns and how people go about living their daily lives. For South Asian economies, inflation is not only a hypothetical economic concept; it is a brutal reality that affects their...

Purpose - The study examines the impacts of debt financing on infrastructure development, investment, creation of new business entities, subsidies to private sector and GDP growth. Design/methodology/approach - The methodology is based on five simultaneous equations which have been estimated...