Launch of the Economic and Social Survey of Asia and the Pacific 2013 presented at the "Seminar Asia and Brazil: Perspectives for Inclusive Growth" held in Brasilia on April 18th and organised by UNDP's International Policy Centre for Inclusive Growth and the Brazilian Institute for Applied Economic Research (Ipea). See more information at: http://pressroom.ipc-undp.org/subdued-asia-pacific-growth-in-2013-as-region-impacted-by-developed-world-policy-uncertainty/

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Emerging Markets: prospects
for inclusive growth policies
Fabio Veras Soares – IPC (UNDP/SAE/IPEA)
Brasilia, 18th
April 2013

2. ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL SURVEY - ESCAP
The economic and Social Survey of Asia and The Pacific identifies the following
key areas for public investment to ensure inclusive and sustainable
development:
 Ensuring productive and decent employment;
 Providing better access to social services, including health and education;
 Protection for people with disability and old-age income security
 Ensuring affordable access to energy;
The survey presents two rationales for “investment” in social protection:
 Rights-based argument
 Economic and social benefits of ensuring income security and access to basic
services to all – enhancing human capital for productivity increases.
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3. ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL SURVEY - ESCAP
The survey makes the case for Social Protection Floors (SPFs) as
per the 2012 ILO recommendation (#202) in the region.
SPFs are defined as “nationally defined sets of of basic social
security guarantees with secure protection aimed at preventing
and alleviating poverty, vulnerability and social exclusion.”
The idea of plurality of SPFs is welcomed in the survey given the
diversity of social protection mechanisms adopted in the region
and largely explained by different human development needs,
fiscal space, policy inertia and trade-offs.
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4. ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL SURVEY - ESCAP
SPFs initiative has a normative force for the developing countries in
Asia and The Pacific due to the fact that Social Protection is often
limited contributory social insurance system.
 This limitation leads to the exclusion of large numbers of workers
in the informal sector, children, older people, and has a particular
negative impact on women.
According to ILO’s World Social Security Report Asia-Pacific
countries spend 6.9% of the GDP on social security, which is the
second lowest figure in terms of world regions.
Higher social protection expenditure is associated with lower
poverty prevalence in the region.
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5. EMPLOYMENT FOR ALL
Despite rapid economic growth, a large number of workers in the
Asia-Pacific region work in informal and vulnerable jobs.
Moreover in many countries the share of the labour force engaged
in the agriculture is larger than the agricultural sector GDP, which
implies low productivity and wages (e.g. Nepal, India, Viet Nam and
Papua New Guinea).
Informality ranges from 12% in Russia to 80% in India and Nepal.
The challenge of youth unemployment
Policy recommendations: public works, employment guarantee
schemes and wage subsidies linked to active labour market
programmes.
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6. Employment Guarantee Schemes (EGS)
EGSs represent a move from short-term safety nets towards a
long term approach encompasses large-scale government
employment programmes that offer some form of employment
guarantee as well as initiatives that promote the labour
intensification of government infrastructure spending.
Bangladesh Employment Generation Program for the Poorest
(EGPP)
Nepal Karnali Employment Programme (KEP)
South African experience (EPWP): Incorporation of Social
Services (economy of care) and environmental component.
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7. Employment Guarantee Schemes (EGS)
Some programme examples… NREGA, India (2005)
Framework: Right to work
Objective: to create durable assets and strengthen the livelihood
resource base of the rural poor.
Self targeting: all rural households willing to do unskilled manual
work are entitled up to 100 days of work/year (45 million hhs
benefited 2008-9).
60:40 wage and material ratio has to be maintain. No contractors
or use of machinery is allowed.
Selection of the project at the local level (participatory)
Social audits (transparency).
Unemployment insurance (paid by the state) if work is not
provided within 15 days.
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8. Income security for the elderly
In a context of greater longevity, the survey recommends the
implementation of social pensions for the elderly
Demographic changes that have eroded informal family-based
support systems for old-age income security.
In the developing economies of Asia, 80% of workers are not
covered by a pension scheme, those who are covered tend to be
formal workers in urban areas.
Countries such as Thailand, India, Nepal, Brunei Darussalam, Viet
Nam, Samoa, Kiribati have non-contributory social pensions.
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9. Old age pension in Asia
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10. Old age pension in Asia
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11. Social Pensions in Asia – ADB (2012)
 Social pensions represent an important policy instrument for addressing
old-age poverty and social exclusion in Asia.
 Evidence indicates that social pensions offer limited income support due
to the low value of benefits and insufficient coverage of poor older
persons in means-tested schemes.
 They nevertheless provide an important institutional foundation for
subsequent expansion and strengthening of the existing schemes.
 Economic growth can allow greater redistribution in the future and make
it possible to extend the coverage, lower the retirement age, and finance
more generous benefits.
 Development of effective pension schemes requires strengthening the
administrative and delivery capacity of national social protection
institutions.
 Eventually, the existing social pension schemes must be integrated with
contributory pensions to form consolidated systems for old-age social
protection.
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12. Income Security for People with Disability
 The formal sector bias of social insurance system of developing countries
in the Asia-Pacific tend to leave persons with disability without social
protection coverage.
 Ageing population will certainly contribute for an increase in the number
of people leaving with disability.
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13. Health for all
 Public health expenditure averages around 60% of total health
expenditure, but there is huge regional variation (e.g. Pakistan and
Myanmar – 12%, India – 30%).
 Large inequities in access to health.
 Only 20% of the regional population has access to health-care
assistance and out-of-pocked medical expenses are among the highest
in the world.
 This scenario is even worse in South Asian countries were only 8% of the
population is covered by health-care.
 Policy recommendation: universal health coverage: equity, quality and
affordability.
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14. Education for all
 Many countries in the region have already achieved universal primary
education and other are on track to do so.
 South Asian countries are lagging behind as 7% of primary school age
children are out-of-school and girls are 55% of the total share of out-of-
school children.
 Competitive and globalized labour markets require more than primary
education.
 Quality challenge.
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15. Energy for all
 Universal access to energy services is considered essential for
increasing economic activities, which create opportunities for
employment (not only for the poor)
 Bangladesh, China and India account for more than half of the
population who live without clean cooking facilities.
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16. Recent Innovations in the region…
 Some recent innovations have been overlooked or not commented in the
survey… in the next slides we show some of these initiatives.
 It is worth mentioning the adoption of Conditional Cash Transfer
Schemes with some adaptations of the Latin American model in countries
like The Phillippines (4Ps); Indonesia (PKH) and the innovative
community-based CCT (Generasi); some state-level schemes in India
(e.g. Bihar child support programme) but also unconditional cash
transfers such as Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP) in
Pakistan and Di Bao in China that work as minimum income guarantee.
 The issue of targeting and the discussion around phasing-out fuel and
food subsidies which is quite present is many countries (e.g. Indonesia
and India) was also overlooked in this survey
 Jointly with the targeting discussion there is the issue of registries (and
single registry of beneficiaries) – Indonesia is doing major progress with
Basis Data Terpadu to target Raskin (rice benefit); Jamkesmas (health
insurance, PKH and BSM (school grants).
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17. Recent Social Protection Initiatives (De Haan, 2013)
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18. Recent Social Protection Initiatives (De Haan, 2013)
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19. Many Thanks
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