Publication: South Asia Development Update, October 2023: Toward Faster, Cleaner Growth
Loading...
Files in English
7,954 downloads
Other Files
143 downloads
561 downloads
1,221 downloads
236 downloads
Date
2023-10-03
ISSN
Published
2023-10-03
Author(s)
Editor(s)
Abstract
At just under 6 percent, South Asia is expected to grow faster than any other emerging market and developing economy (EMDE) region in 2024–25. However, for all countries, this will represent a slowdown from pre-pandemic averages. Several potential adverse events could derail this outlook, including risks related to fragile fiscal positions. Government debt in South Asia averaged 86 percent of GDP in 2022, above that of any other EMDE region. In some countries, outright defaults have short-circuited growth while, in others, increasing domestic borrowing by governments has driven up interest rates and diverted credit away from the private sector. Elections could add to spending pressures. An urgent policy priority for the region is, therefore, to manage and reduce fiscal risks. Over the longer term, the policy priority is to accelerate growth and job creation in a sustainable manner. The energy transition, away from fossil fuels toward sustainable sources of energy, presents an opportunity for the region to lift productivity, cut pollution, reduce its reliance on fuel imports, and create jobs. South Asia uses twice as much energy to produce each unit of output as the global average and the region lags in the adoption of advanced energy-efficient technologies. Even fiscally constrained governments can take action to support the energy transition with market-based regulations, information campaigns, broader access to finance, and reliable public power grids. With about 9 percent of the region’s workers employed in pollution-intensive activities, and these workers less educated and more often informally employed than the average worker, the energy transition will create challenging labor market shifts. This calls for measures to boost job creation and facilitate worker mobility, geographically and across sectors.
Link to Data Set
Citation
“World Bank. 2023. South Asia Development Update, October 2023: Toward Faster, Cleaner Growth. © World Bank. http://hdl.handle.net/10986/40385 License: CC BY 3.0 IGO.”
Associated URLs
Associated content
Other publications in this report series
Journal
Journal Volume
Journal Issue
Collections
Related items
Showing items related by metadata.
Error: Could not load results for 'https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/server/api/item/relateditemlistconfigs/ca7eda87-55ad-4d03-9e54-092ba943fe0e_metadata/itemlist'.
Users also downloaded
Showing related downloaded files
Error: Could not load results for 'https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/server/api/item/relateditemlistconfigs/ca7eda87-55ad-4d03-9e54-092ba943fe0e_downloads/itemlist'.