Better Sharing , Bigger Pie: Planning for Inclusive Growth Biplove Choudhary

1. Better Sharing, Bigger Pie: Planning for Inclusive Growth Biplove Choudhary UNDP Asia-Pacific Regional Centre, Bangkok Conference on Public Sector Management in Support of the MDGs 13-15 June 2012, UNESCAP, Bangkok, Thailand

2. Presentation Outline: The presentation would strive to address the following three inter-related questions: • What is inclusive growth? • What are the key emerging challenges to inclusive growth in the region? • What are the major areas of planning for inclusive growth?

3. What is inclusive growth?

4. Simply put, inclusive growth refers to the pattern and pace of economic growth over time • Allows people to participate in and benefit from economic growth • Create equal economic opportunities for all segments of society especially women, marginalized social groups • Needs to be seen as both a process and an outcome • Economic growth should lead to poverty reduction

5. Illustratively, growth is inclusive when: • It addresses poverty in a multi-dimensional sense • It is broad-based and takes place in sectors where bulk of the poor work (e.g., agriculture, informal sector) • It is regionally balanced and focuses specially on relatively poorer areas • It uses the factors of production that poor possess (e.g., unskilled labour) leading to employment creation • It keeps prices of food and other essential services affordable to the poor

6. What are the key emerging challenges to inclusive growth in the region?

7. Asia-Pacific has seen impressive economic growth rates

8. Simultaneously, inequality has been rising

9. Rate of poverty reduction has been high in Asia • It has accelerated in East Asia but slowed-down in South Asia • Growth impact of poverty has been relatively low and declining in South Asia

10. Declining share of agriculture in Aggregate Value-Added in the region Source: World Development Indicators, World Bank

11. Services and industry have grown much faster than agriculture • Growth in the non-agri sectors was 2-3 times higher than that of agriculture • 75% of the Asian poor live in rural areas, but growth has been concentrated in urban/coastal areas. • Employment elasticity of growth has been low UNDP, RBAP 2011

12. Gender disparities limit women from fully participating in the growth process • Women’s labour force participation rate is low: 33 % in South and Southeast Asia compared to 77 % of men • Women earn only 34 % of men’s wages in South Asia • Women own only 7% of farms in Asia versus 18% in Africa • Inheritance and property rights remain unequal % of women owning land is lowest Source: UNDP

13. Vulnerability of the urban poor is high: Asia’s settlements are poised to be mainly urban by 2026 • Cities densely populated;high proportion of the poor live in slums • Poor inhabitants are extremely exposed to climate impacts(flooding, heat, sea level rise) but have limitedcapacity to adapt • Poor access to social services means they pay disproportionately more for lower quality of services • Interlinked infrastructure of transport, energy, communications can be simultaneously hit, disrupting lives, livelihoods, wealth, public assets

14. What are the major areas of planning for inclusive growth?

15. CROSS BORDER COOPERATION HAS SOME WAY TO GO • National policies alone are inadequate for the 13 LDCs and countries with a narrow economic base • Some of the larger countries have LDC-like conditions inside • External markets and resources are essential • No country benefits from a deprived neighbour • Many issues cross borders – crises, climate change, water

16. The quality of economic growth needs to possess at least Three interlinked attributes Inclusive: growth promotes equality of opportunity among people and improved distribution Resilient: growth pattern has the ability to deal with shocks Environmentally sustainable:growth can be sustained without further natural resource degradation environment

17. Key Areas for Planning interventions • Planning from an inclusive growth perspective especially for the women and marginalized groups; focus especially on socio-economic empowerment of women which acts as a multiplier • Narrow the gaps on health and education access through improved inter-sectoral coordination, governance and enhanced public spending that reach the poor • Focus explicitly on employment creation in the through rural non-farm and SME activities in towns and small cities including for low skilled workers • Strengthen a social protection for the poor to better manage multiple risks and vulnerabilities

18. Many countries are headed in the right direction • Recent development plans focus on inclusive growth • 11thFive-Year Plans of China and India • Cash transfers designed to reduce disparity in gender, education and health indicators • Bangladesh, Cambodia, Indonesia, and Philippines • Employment and health linked social protection operates • China’s “Minimum Livelihood Guarantee Scheme” • India’s “National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme” • Thailand’s “Universal Health Insurance Scheme” • Some are increasing resource allocation to agriculture and rural development

19. Thank you!