Asia's Developing Future

Post offices can deliver financial services to people who don’t have access to traditional banks. But developing efficient postal finance isn’t easy. Although it can have a powerful presence in an economy, postal finance can also be inefficient and corrupt. Good regulation is important to make sure that it is both effective and accountable.

Read the transcript

http://bit.ly/2tlooyD

Read the policy brief

https://www.adb.org/publications/innovating-financial-inclusion-postal-savings-system-revisited

Authors

Aladdin Rillo https://www.adb.org/adbi/about/staff-profiles/aladdin-rillo

Jeffrey Miyamoto

In 2010, Viet Nam launched a public–private partnership project called the Partnership for Sustainable Agriculture, which drew interest from big companies. The partnership successfully established training programs for farmers, which increased their productivity and income, and improved both crop quality and yield.

Countries in Central Asia and the Caucasus where farms are inefficient might gain insight from the partnership model used by Viet Nam.

Read the transcript

http://bit.ly/2t9QMJa

Read the policy brief

https://www.adb.org/publications/promoting-agricultural-value-chain-integration-central-asia-and-caucasus

Authors

Aladdin Rillo https://www.adb.org/adbi/about/staff-profiles/aladdin-rillo

Suryo Ariyanto Nugroho https://www.adb.org/adbi/about/staff-profiles/suryo-ariyanto-nugroho

The SME Competitiveness Outlook [http://www.intracen.org/SMEOutlook/SMECO2016/] of the International Trade Center helps governments understand the challenges that SMEs face in their quest to either penetrate the export market or expand export shipments. The report contains regional snapshots, which allow governments—as well as managers at SMEs—to zoom in on a specific group of products and markets that are lucrative for SMEs.

Read the transcript

http://bit.ly/2tPyk7j

Watch the full presentation

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bvOw9efepRE&feature=youtu.be

Read ADBI publications on SMEs

http://bit.ly/2vfKTqm

Despite remarkable growth in per capita GDP over the past 50 years, poverty remains widespread in Asia, says Haruhiko Kuroda, governor of the Central Bank of Japan and former president of the Asian Development Bank. More must be done to promote growth that benefits everyone, regardless of socioeconomic status or gender, he says. The poor need education and jobs, governments must help small businesses flourish, the poor must learn how to save and how to borrow money through financial institutions rather than moneylenders, and so financial institutions need to improve financial literacy among the poor and be more open to lending against uncertain risk.

Mr. Kuroda made these remarks in May at the Global Think Tank Summit in Yokahama, organized by the Asian Development Bank Institute and the Think Tanks and Civil Societies Program of the University of Pennsylvania.

Read the transcript

http://bit.ly/2tiE4WG

Read the whole speech: Toward Inclusive Growth

http://www.boj.or.jp/en/announcements/press/koen_2017/ko170502a.htm/

Listen to and watch the whole speech

https://youtu.be/PE2J5nlzaQo

Know more about the Global Think Tank Summit 2017

https://www.adb.org/news/events/global-think-tank-summit-2017

Naoyuki Yoshino, dean of the Asian Development Bank Institute, told VTC10–NETVIET in Ha Noi, Viet Nam, that small business owners need education to be able to access finance. He also said that even if people in many developing countries such as Viet Nam and Indonesia have money and want to save, there is nowhere they can safely put their money. Changing technology, he said, may hold the solution, and post offices could serve better the needs of remote populations.

Read the transcript

http://bit.ly/2srCyP5

Watch the whole interview on VTC10–NETVIET

http://www.vtc.gov.vn/chitiet/4818-viet-nam-goc-nhin-cua-ban-14-04-2017.html

Know more about Naoyuki Yoshino: https://www.adb.org/adbi/about/dean

Negative interest rates will likely remain important, says the University of Rochester’s Professor Narayana Kocherlakota, former president and CEO of the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis. But the trick will be to harness low rates to boost consumer expectations and spending.

Read the transcript

http://bit.ly/2tNP5zZ

Watch and listen to the full presentation

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BKnJS37KbGE&feature=youtu.be&t=2420

Read other ADBI resources

ADBI Annual Conference 2016: The Implications of Ultra-Low and Negative Interest Rates for Asia

https://www.adb.org/news/events/adbi-annual-conference-2016-implications-ultra-low-and-negative-interest-rates-asia

Monetary policy spillovers in emerging Asia

By Ansgar Belke, Irina Dubova and Ulrich Volz

https://www.asiapathways-adbi.org/2017/05/monetary-policy-spillovers-in-emerging-asia/

Ultra-low interest rates and wandering overinvestment cycles in East Asia

By Gunther Schnabl

https://www.asiapathways-adbi.org/2017/03/ultra-low-interest-rates-and-wandering-overinvestment-cycles-in-east-asia/

Micro insurance could potentially reach 3 billion people and earn the industry up to $30 billion from insurance premiums. But only about 5% of the total market in Asia, Africa, and Latin America is covered, and only about 20% of micro insurance is being distributed by microfinance institutions globally. Micro insurance must expand globally to meet the needs of the poor.

Read the transcript

http://bit.ly/2sIvAJV

Read the full policy brief

https://www.adb.org/publications/financial-inclusion-digital-age

Authors

Shawn Hunter

David Dole https://www.adb.org/adbi/about/staff-profiles/david-dole

Valdimir dela Cruz https://www.adb.org/adbi/about/staff-profiles/valdimir-de-la-cruz

Fragility and conflict are interlinked, particularly in states, as conflict is usually the result of fragility reaching a climax, says Patrick Safran, a senior official of the Asian Development Bank when he spoke at ADBI. Training is a key tool to strengthen fragile and conflict-affected states, he says, and women play a particularly important role in helping improve the conditions in these countries. Central and local governments, as well as the civil society organizations, he stresses, must also be involved, and communication campaigns are crucial for stimulating community participation and sense of ownership.

Read the transcript

http://bit.ly/2tT0Equ

To watch the whole presentation, go to

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YLHH0AtldTE&t=636s

Standards and regulations for export companies are multiplying, and for a small company the challenge of complying can be daunting. To counter that, the International Trade Center—or ITC—focuses on guiding export-oriented small and medium-sized enterprises or SMEs to export markets.

Read the transcript

http://bit.ly/2tj6oIG

Watch the whole presentation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bvOw9efepRE&t=271s