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Under ADB’s RETA 6143 Subproject, a study titled ‘Mapping and Needs Assessment of Women’s SMEs in the Pacific and Development of Intervention Strategies’ was undertaken in 2014-2015. The purpose of the study was to conduct a comprehensive mapping assessment in six Pacific island countries of the needs, capacity, and constraints faced by women-owned and women-managed small- and medium-sized enterprises, defined as formal businesses with more than five employees. The results...
A report by the Australian Parliament’s Joint Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade has endorsed PSDI reforms and drawn on numerous inputs from PSDI’s submission to the Committee. The report is entitled ‘Partnering for the greater good: The role of the private sector in promoting economic growth and reducing poverty in the Indo-Pacific region[http://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Joint/Foreign_Affairs_Defence_and_Trade/Indo-Pacfic_Economic_Growth/Report]’. Tabled on 22 June, it examines best practices domestically and internationally in PPPs, provision of...
Peter Dirou, PSDI’s Financing Growth Team Leader, was keynote speaker at a high-level, private sector development roundtable in Timor-Leste on May 27. The meeting sought to deepen dialogue between the Timor-Leste Government and the private sector to identify, and address, challenges to market-based growth. It was welcomed by PSDI, which recommends such an initiative in its soon-to-be-published Timor-Leste private sector assessment, ‘Growing the Non-Oil Economy’. Peter 1 for web PSDI Financing Growth...
SOEs continue to play an important role in many Pacific island countries. Many absorb large amounts of scarce capital on which they provide very low returns. While some provide essential public services, many others operate as purely commercial ventures and crowd out the private sector. Reforming SOEs and implementing public-private partnerships (PPPs) creates opportunities for private investment, reduces the costs of doing business and improves basic services by introducing private sector discipline...
Under-investment in women, who represent 40% of the world’s labour force but hold just 1% of its wealth, is now widely recognized as an opportunity cost for economic growth and business performance. Women in the Pacific are an enormous potential economic resource who have the capacity to greatly enhance prosperity. Gender equality is recognised as one of the drivers of change in ADB’s Strategy 2020. Since PSDI’s inception in 2007, gender...
“Competition policy” encompasses the range of policies, laws, regulations, decisions, and government actions that aim to promote competitive behavior between business undertakings and rationally address any circumstances in which competition might not be efficient or might conflict with other important social objectives. As such, competition policy forms an important part of national economic policy. Competition policy is an increasingly important theme in PSDI and is now a focus area for activity...