1 Pro-poor Sustained Economic Growth Policies: Asia-Pacific Perspectives By Kim Hak-Su UN Under-Secretary-General & Executive Secretary of ESCAP High-level Dialogue of the Executive Secretaries with ECOSOC

2 OVERVIEW  Poverty & growth  How macroeconomic policies affect growth  Achieving pro-poor growth: policy recommendations

3 RAPID POVERTY REDUCTION: HIGH & SUSTAINED GROWTH NEEDED Growth rates & poverty levels Average annual GDP growth Population below $1 poverty line (%) ( ) China Viet Nam

4 MACROECONOMIC POLICIES, GROWTH & EQUITY Growth process: increases the poor’s incomes faster More public expenditure on health & education: benefits the poor, increases their productivity Labour-intensive sectors: engines of economic growth

5 POLICIES IMPACTING ON GROWTH & EQUITY  Fiscal  Monetary  Trade  Structural adjustment  Human resources development  Sectoral: agriculture, construction & small- & medium-enterprises  Redistribution of land & other assets  Population  Pro-poor targeting

6 PRO-POOR GROWTH – MACRO ECONOMIC POLICIES  Fiscal policy: to reduce inequalities  Promote sectors with more employment opportunities

7 POVERTY REDUCTION: MAJOR DETERMINANTS Dependent variable: Population below dollar (PPP) a day per capita poverty line Explanatory variablesCoefficientt-values GDP per capita (constant 2000 US$) (-4.85) Trade (% of GDP) (-3.52) Agriculture, value added (% of GDP) (-2.45) Population density (people per km 2 ) (1.14) Age dependency ratio (dependents to working-age population) (2.55) Number of observations79 R-squared0.51 F-statistic41.35 Notes: i. Estimation is by ordinary least squares with robust standard errors. ii. All variables are in natural logarithms.

8 ACHIEVING PRO-POOR GROWTH: POLICY RECOMMENDATIONS  Pro-poor growth strategies  Ensure that the rural poor benefit from growth  Invest in agricultural R&D, including rural infrastructure, rural education, health, water & sanitation  Remove barriers to service delivery  Role of ESCAP