UN's Economic and Social Survey for Asia and the Pacific Analyses Threat of Triple Crises to the Region

26 March 2009 Press Release No. G/22/2009
Embargoed until 0500 GMT/1200 Bangkok, 26 March 2009
UN's Economic and Social Survey for Asia and the Pacific Analyses Threat of
Triple Crises to the Region
Solutions proposed to deal with economic, food/fuel and climate change
challenges
Bangkok (UN/ESCAP Information Services) - While most governments are focused
on dealing with the worst economic crisis in many decades, two other longer
term crises should not be forgotten. Food-fuel price volatility and climate
change are converging with the present economic crisis to create what is now
being referred to as the triple threat. With almost two thirds of the
world's poor and half of its natural disasters, Asia and the Pacific is at
the epicentre of the triple crises.
This message comes from the Economic and Social Survey for Asia and the
Pacific 2009, the flagship publication of the United Nations' regional arm -
the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP).
Entitled "Addressing Triple Threats to Development," the report is released
today in over 20 cities across the region and in New York and Geneva.
The Survey provides a regional perspective as well as country-specific
analyses, and outlines ways in which economies in the region can move
forward in unison towards a more inclusive and sustainable development path.
"The severity of the triple crises required a more responsive,
action-oriented agenda," said Noeleen Heyzer, UN Under-Secretary-General and
Executive Secretary of ESCAP at the main launch in Bangkok. "The Survey's
findings and recommendations will serve as a guide to policymakers through
the uncertain times ahead."
Resilience to financial crisis eroded by reliance on exports to other
regions
This is the second time in a decade Asia and the Pacific has been hit by a
financial crisis. However, the Survey finds that reforms undertaken since
1997 - implementation of prudent macroeconomic policies, improved fiscal
balances, banking reforms and foreign exchange reserve accumulation - made
the region more resilient at the beginning of the current crisis. That
resilience started to erode, however, when in the fourth quarter of 2008,
trade - the region's engine of growth - moved from double digit growth to
double digit declines.
"The fact is that the Asia-Pacific region is more economically integrated
with the rest of the world then with itself," Dr. Heyzer noted.
"Intraregional trade among developing countries accounts for only 37% of
exports in our region, compared with NAFTA at 51% and the E.U at 68%."
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Headquartered in Bangkok, ESCAP is the largest of the UN's five Regional
Commissions in terms of its membership,
population served and area covered. The only intergovernmental forum
covering the entire Asia-Pacific region, ESCAP
works to promote sustainable and inclusive economic and social progress.
More information is available at
www.unescap.org.
United Nations Information Services Bangkok
United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific
Rajadamnern Nok Avenue, Bangkok 10200, Thailand
Tel: (+66-2) 288-1861-9 ● Fax: (+66-2) 288-1052 ● E-mail:
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The Survey calls for more intra-regional trade and investment by
accelerating implementation of regional economic cooperation agreements. "By
strengthening our domestic markets, the region can provide a buffer to
global market fluctuations and move from being crisis resilient to crisis
resistant. A key component in this will be how governments use fiscal policy
as a tool of development" Dr. Heyzer added.
Poverty and food/fuel crisis increase vulnerability to climate change
The Survey points out that the triple crises are interlinked and are
reinforcing the impacts of each other. It notes that the number of the poor
in Asia and the Pacific - already two thirds of the global total - is likely
to increase as a result of the economic crisis and rising unemployment.
Record high oil prices last year of $147 dollars a barrel, in combination
with hording and price speculation drove the price of rice up by 150
percent. This is the region's staple, with price increases hitting the poor
the hardest.
At the same time, studies have shown that natural disasters
disproportionately affect the poor and the most vulnerable. Asia, as the
most disaster-prone region in the world, experiences almost half of global
natural disasters, with a disproportionate 65 per cent of the victims.
Climate change threatens to further magnify the vulnerability of the poor by
increasing the frequency and severity of natural disasters, and crop
failures, in the region.
Stimulus packages offer opportunity to address long term issues
The Survey sees governments' stimulus packages as an opportunity to not only
reinvigorate the economy in the short term, but address long-term issues by
investing in food and energy security, social safety nets, disaster risk
reduction and green technology.
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"Impacts of the crises have hit the world's poor the hardest, two thirds of
whom live in the Asia Pacific. It is clear that a more inclusive model for
economic growth is required to address their needs," Dr. Heyzer said. "This
requires setting up social protection systems that increase income security
and free up the spending power of middle and lower income people who drive
the economy."
The Survey points out that coverage of basic social protection is currently
very low in the Asia-Pacific region, with only an estimated 30 per cent of
the elderly receiving pensions and 20% of the population having access to
health-care assistance.
"The converging triple threat highlights the need for a more comprehensive,
inclusive approach to development," Dr. Heyzer noted. "Not only is there an
urgent requirement to resume economic growth, but we have to re-think where
that growth takes place and whom it benefits."
"As the Asia-Pacific region becomes more influential in discussions shaping
the future global economic architecture, so too will its responsibility to
address the underlying causes of the triple threats. Our region has the
potential to emerge from the current crises as a global leader, but only if
current stimulus packages and reforms are implemented in a manner that is
both inclusive and sustainable."
The Economic and Social Survey for Asia and the Pacific 2009 is available
online at: http://www.unescap.org/survey2009/
For more information, please contact:
Ms. Tiziana Bonapace
Macroeconomic Policy Section, ESCAP
Tel.: (66) 2 288 1430
Email: bonap...@un.org
Mr. Bentley Jenson
UN Information Services (UNIS), ESCAP
Tel.: (66) 2 288 1869
Mobile: (66) 84 080 5025
Email: jen...@un.org and unisbkk.unes...@un.org