动态一：东亚东盟经济研究中心
1. Improving Emission Regulation for Coal-fired Power Plants in ASEAN
Edited by Mitsuru Motokura, Jongkyun Lee, Ichiro Kutani, Han Phoumin
This study compares emission regulations and systems of coal-fired power plants (CPPs) in ASEAN and advanced countries. It suggests that minimizing the emission of air pollutants in ASEAN countries is a precondition to the future use of CPPs. Thus, the study is expected to raise the level of public acceptance to use coal cleanly. ASEAN then should raise the current emission standards of air pollutants from CPPs to the level equivalent to that of OECD countries. In this case, clean coal technology will be selected automatically, enabling ASEAN to head towards the common environmental standard for the coal-fired power generation.
Download: http://www.eria.org/RPR_FY2016_02.pdf
2．Oil Supply Resilience in ASEAN
Edited by Shigeru Kimura, Tetsuo Morikawa and Han Phoumin
The study aims to share Japan's experience with ASEAN countries in dealing with oil supply disruption either from abroad or domestically as a result of natural or artificial disasters. Many ASEAN countries are exposed to various risks of supply disruption, such as natural disasters, accidents, and terrorist attacks. The study analyses the current status of relevant oil supply security activities in the ASEAN region, identifies the required actions to enhance resilience in oil supply security, and proposes measures to enhance oil supply resilience in the region by using Japan's experience after the earthquake in 2011.
Download: http://www.eria.org/RPR_FY2016_03.pdf
动态二：国际货币基金组织最新出版物
1. Understanding Revenue Administration
Providing technical assistance to member countries is one key activity of the IMF. This Departmental Paper analyzes the findings of a follow-up survey and is meant to provide countries with information on key measures for revenue administration, with a special focus on tax administration.
Download a free copy of the report
2. A Rebalancing Act for China and Africa
How does China's new growth model affect sub-Saharan Africa? This paper first looks at the growing ties between China and Africa and attempts to estimate the impact on growth through the trade channel.
Download a free copy of the report
3. Taking Stock of Monetary and Exchange Rate Regimes in Emerging Europe
This paper reassesses monetary and exchange rate regimes in Central, Eastern and Southeastern Europe (CESEE). A full quarter century after the transition from socialism, almost every type of monetary and exchange rate regime can be found in the region-from free floating and inflation targeting over various soft and hard pegs to the unilateral use of the euro and full euro area membership.
Download a free copy of the report
动态三：FAO 联合国粮食及农业组织最新动态
1. FAO calls for new food systems to conquer malnutrition in all its forms
Committee on World Food Security plenary kicks off with focus on nutrition, forestry and urbanization
Companies and consumers must step up their efforts to overhaul the world's food systems at a time when the twin spectres of hunger and obesity are both on the rise, FAO Director-General Jose Graziano da Silva told delegates at the Committee on World Food Security (CFS).
Some 815 million people suffered from hunger in 2016, yet more and more adults and children are becoming obese in both the developed and developing worlds, he noted.
"This can compromise future human generations," he said, calling for "more active policies" to drive the creation of sustainable food systems. "This is a huge task that governments alone will not be able to fulfill."
The 44th plenary session of the CFS began. The body offers an inclusive platform for all stakeholders, including governments, civil society and the private sector, to work together and develop policy recommendations and guidance on topics affecting food security and nutrition. It has promulgated landmark guidelines on land tenure, responsible investments in agriculture and guidelines for food security and nutrition in protracted crises. This year's policy focus is on sustainable forestry and urbanization, while the High-Level Panel of Experts will release a new report on Nutrition and Food Systems.
2. Securing land tenure rights vital for the eradication of global hunger
FAO, EU celebrate 5th anniversary of the Voluntary Guidelines on Tenure of Land, Fisheries and Forests
Considerable gains have been made in land tenure governance in the past five years, but more must be done to improve the lives of billions of people - that was the message at a high-level event co-hosted by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization and the European Union to mark the fifth anniversary of guidelines to recognize and secure tenure rights.
The Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Tenure (VGGT) promote secure tenure rights for land, fisheries and forests as a means of eradicating hunger and poverty, supporting sustainable development and enhancing the environment.
"The Guidelines have improved the lives of millions of people by recognizing, protecting and enhancing their legitimate tenure rights," said FAO Director-General José Graziano da Silva. "There are still many challenges...First, private sector engagement should be fostered in many countries. Second, more actions should be undertaken at local and grassroots levels, and third, equal gender participation must be further strengthened," he said.
"The EU is committed to support a responsible approach to governance of tenure and to protect the interest and needs of land users. This is a win-win for all, as good land governance helps responsible resource management, creates business opportunities and contributes to sustainable development," said Neven Mimica, European Commissioner for International Cooperation and Development.
3. Rural areas, too long seen as poverty traps, key to economic growth in developing countries
But sweeping transformations needed to unlock their potential to help feed and employ a younger, more crowded planet - new report
Millions of young people in developing countries who are poised to enter the labour force in the coming decades need not flee rural areas to escape poverty, argues a new FAO report published today.
Rural areas actually have vast potential for economic growth pegged to food production and related sectors, The State of Food and Agriculture 2017 says. And with the majority of the world's poor and hungry living in these areas, achieving the 2030 development agenda will hinge on unlocking that oft-neglected potential, it adds. Doing so will require overcoming a thorny combination of low productivity in subsistence agriculture, limited scope for industrialization in many places, and rapid population growth and urbanization — all of which pose challenges to developing nations' capacity to feed and employ their citizens.
There is ample evidence that changes to rural economies can have major impacts. Transformations of rural economies have been credited with helping hundreds of millions of rural people lift themselves up out of poverty since the 1990s, the report notes.
However that progress has been patchy, and demographic growth is raising the stakes.
Between 2015 and 2030, the ranks of people aged 15-24 years are expected to rise by about 100 million, to 1.3 billion. Almost all that increase will take place in sub-Saharan Africa — the lion's share of it in rural zones.
But in many developing countries — most notably in South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa — growth in the industrial and service sectors has lagged, and they will not be able to absorb the massive numbers of new job seekers set to enter the workforce.
Nor will agriculture — in its current form.
So rural people who relocate to cities will likely run a greater risk of joining the ranks of the urban poor, instead of finding a pathway out of poverty. Others will need to look for employment elsewhere, leading to seasonal — or permanent — migration.
This is why targeting policy support and investment to rural areas to build vibrant food systems and supporting agro-industries that are well connected to urban zones —especially small and medium size cities — will create employment and allow more people to stay, and thrive, in the countryside represents a strategic intervention, today's report says.
Transformed rural economies won't necessarily be a panacea that solves all the pressures that drive people to relocate, but they will generate much-needed jobs and contribute to making out-migration more of a choice, rather than a necessity.
动态四： ADB亚洲开发银行最新动态
1. Green Financing Platform' Launched for Better Air Quality in Greater Beijing Area
The Green Financing Platform (GFP), supported by the Asian Development Bank (ADB), was launched today by the China National Investment and Guaranty Corporation (I&G) to promote air pollution-reduction investments in the greater Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei (BTH). The launching ceremony was also joined by the State Development and Investment Corporation (SDIC), Ministry of Finance, and the National Development and Reform Commission.
The state-owned I&G was selected by the government to develop an appropriate facility, and ADB approved a loan of €458 million ($499.6 million) in December 2016 to help I&G set up GFP, which is expected to also leverage €3.6 billion equivalent in domestic commercial financing. With credit enhancement measures, GFP will help SMEs to have easier access to loans from commercial banks. SDIC, the controlling state-owned enterprise of I&G, will provide oversight to the implementation of GFP.
The establishment of GFP is the second part of envisaged multiyear ADB support to improve air quality in the BTH region. ADB approved a first ever policy-based loan for the PRC in December 2015 as the first support in this regard, and successfully implemented it in 2016.
To address the complex challenge of air quality improvement in this vast region, the PRC government and ADB agreed on a lending program of about $500 million per year for 2016-2020. The ADB assistance over this period will focus on strengthening policies and regulatory frameworks, developing financing facilities to unlock investment in areas of need, and leapfrogging technologies in key sectors.
2. ADB to Provide $180M to Help Improve Railway Safety in PRC
The Asian Development Bank’s (ADB) Board of Directors has approved a $180 million loan to help the government build a safer, more reliable, and more efficient rail transport system in the mountainous southwest region of the People’s Republic of China (PRC).
The Mountain Railway Safety Enhancement Project will fund advanced railway safety equipment for the E’Mei-Miyi section — about 386 kilometers long — of the Chengdu-Kunming railway line, considered one of the most important railway networks supporting tourism and economic growth in the PRC.
The project will help install new technologies, including advanced railway signaling, communication, and power supply mechanisms, as well as tunnel safety operation and monitoring systems. These will allow for more seamless train operations to avoid delays, technical difficulties such as power outages, accidents, and other emergency situations.
Railway safety management will also be improved by training officials at relevant agencies on safety, disaster prevention, and emergency tunnel rescue operations. About 100 staff from executing and implementing agencies are expected to take part in the training and other technical exchanges.
The total cost of the project is $860 million, including counterpart financing of $680 million. The project is expected to be completed by mid-2024.
3. PPPs Can Help Fill Asia's Infrastructure Gap — Report
Leveraging private capital and technical expertise through public-private partnerships (PPPs) can help countries in Asia and the Pacific meet their infrastructure needs, which currently stand at about $1.7 trillion per year, according to a new Asian Development Bank (ADB) report.
The special theme chapter in the Asian Development Outlook (ADO) 2017 Update analyzes PPPs as a vital source of private sector support in the region’s efforts to fill the $500 billion per year infrastructure finance gap. ADO is ADB’s flagship economic publication.
“PPPs, if done right, have the potential to fill the region’s huge infrastructure needs, leveraging the capabilities and resources of the private sector towards the common goal of sustainable development for all,” said Yasuyuki Sawada, ADB Chief Economist.
Asia’s development needs are significant, with over 400 million Asians currently living without electricity, 300 million without safe drinking water, and over 1.5 billion without basic sanitation. Resources of governments and international financial institutions like ADB are not enough to meet these needs—something the private sector through PPPs can help address.
4. ADB Increases PRC Growth Projection on Fiscal Expansion, Rising Exports
Stronger than expected external demand in the first half of the year, coupled with proactive fiscal policy and strong domestic consumption pushes the People’s Republic of China’s (PRC) growth projection higher than was previously forecasted for 2017 and 2018, according to a new Asian Development Bank (ADB) report.
In an update of the Asian Development Outlook (ADO) 2017, its flagship annual economic publication, ADB is now adjusting the PRC’s growth forecast to 6.7% in 2017 and 6.4% in 2018 from the April estimates of 6.5% and 6.2%, respectively.
“The PRC economy remains resilient, solidifying its role as an engine of global growth,” said Yasuyuki Sawada, ADB Chief Economist. “Supply-side reform is moving forward, but eventual success hinges on a careful balancing of the role of the market and the state, particularly as the country continues its transition to a more market and services-driven economy.”
Growth in the first half of 2017 reached 6.9%, 0.2 percentage points higher compared to the same period last year, buoyed mainly by strong domestic consumption, recovering exports, and a stable services sector, despite slowdowns in real estate and financial services. Growth in domestic demand for the first half of 2017 was in line with ADO projections and reflected wage growth and increases in pensions, which pushed up household disposable income by 7.3%, and higher government spending on health and education.
For the rest of 2017, the Update forecasts that consumption will remain the main growth driver of the economy as incomes rise and consumer confidence strengthens. Net exports contributed to the PRC’s growth so far, but will not in 2018 when imports are again expected to exceed exports. Investment, meanwhile, will continue its downward trend this year and the next due to structural and cyclical factors, including an uncertain business outlook for export-oriented industries and remaining industrial excess capacity.
The ADO 2017 Update further notes that ongoing monetary and financial policies will likely remain unchanged, as efforts to strengthen regulations to reduce financial risk while providing adequate lending to the economy continue. The government’s commitment to exchange rate liberalization may result in a further widening of the trading band for the renminbi, particularly if recent stability in foreign exchange markets and a favorable balance of payments are sustained.
Nevertheless, risks remain. The report notes that further regulatory tightening, needed to rein in rising debt, may cause liquidity shortages and put pressure on weaker financial institutions. Other downside risks are the specter of global trade protectionism and renewed large capital outflows triggered by large US interest rate increases and resulting US dollar strength.
