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Improved tax systems can help countries in Asia and the Pacific generate the resources needed to implement the Sustainable Development Goals. This report provides information on current tax administration practices in the region to help governments identify opportunities to strengthen their tax systems. It analyzes the administrative frameworks, practices, and performance of revenue bodies in 34 economies. The analysis was largely based on survey data gathered by the Asian Development Bank in collaboration with the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development and the International Monetary Fund.

ASEAN, the world's fifth-largest economy, is moving towards greater economic integration yet is severely constrained by an expanding digital divide. This divide will only deepen in the Covid-19 pandemic and severely impact ASEAN's micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs). Today, MSMEs account for 99% of businesses in key sectors of most ASEAN economies. MSMEs and underemployed workers are closely connected. To be successful, MSMEs need access to more digitally literate workers. For underemployed workers from rural areas and recent graduates, MSMEs are their best option for future employment. Targeting disadvantaged communities across ASEAN, the Go Digital ASEAN initiative is designed to equip MSMEs and the emerging workforce, particularly those in rural and isolated areas, with digital skills and tools; expand economic opportunity across ASEAN countries; and minimize the negative impact from the Covid-19 crisis. The project will reach up to 200,000 underserved people and rural micro-enterprises across the region, including 60% women and 40% youth (ages 15–35). Leveraging The Asia Foundation's on-ground networks, the initiative will bring critical digital skills training directly to those who need it the most.

The Banking Sector series is a review of Economic outlook and indicators for 2017-2020 in Georgia

As the digital economy continues to evolve, we are seeing a rising call for both balance and fairness. The concerns for an appropriate balance between economic benefits and the preservation of privacy are prompted by the nature of data and its flows. Concerns over fairness arise from taxation disparity between traditional and digital firms. Such concerns have led countries to initiate talks for setting up new rules for digital trade and digital tax. As of today, no digital trade rules are present at the WTO-level ‒ while there is the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) for goods trade and the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) for services trade ‒ despite how the current tax system is the subject of wide criticism by countries that are engaged in international trade.

Plans, priorities and public finances must be revised to ensure the Covid-19 virus is contained and the negative impacts of the virus are minimized. The government is responding but the impacts of the pandemic and containment measures are far reaching. New risks have emerged, and many plans, approved by the hluttaw in September 2019, are no longer feasible and may even be dangerous. Government revenues have been impacted by the changed business environment and by government regulation. Essential government entities that rely on own source revenues will require Union government support to continue. Funding for response efforts may be found in cancelled government activities and additional borrowing. Government officials will need to use the full flexibility allowed by the financial management framework to respond quickly. The scale of changes to the budget will likely require an additional supplementary budget. How the government delivers support to people will determine the success or failure of containment measures. The government's commitment to ensuring access to food and medicine should be applauded- though cash may be more efficient.

This ADBI newsletter is published periodically throughout the year to provide information on current events, seminars and summits, Job opportunities, blogs and news and current publications concerning growth and development in Asia and the Pacific.

The Bangladesh economy, from the very beginning of the ongoing fiscal year, has been grappling with formidable challenges which have been exacerbated by the outbreak of COVID-19. The budget had to be designed and delivered on a relatively weak foundation.

A key assumption of the analysis is that gambling households' income deciles reflect the deprivation decile (NZDep) of the area they live in. This assumption was necessary due to a lack of evidence that would allow gambling households' expenditure patterns to be identified. Making this assumption allowed for a higher weighting to be attached to the spending patterns of poorer households, rather than using an average household expenditure pattern. This provided an approach that would be more realistic given the high density of Class 4 gambling venues and machines in high deprivation areas, the higher prevalence of gambling amongst Māori and Pacific people (Thimasarn-Anwar et al., 2018), the high representation of Māori in the Ministry of Health's gambling services user data (Ministry of Health, 2019), and the significantly higher spend on Class 4 gambling by people living in high deprivation areas (Ward et al., 2020).

A power point presentation of the provisional estimates of GPD growth in FY2020. The estimates of GDP has been under scrutiny for past several years due to its apparent disjuncture with several other key macroeconomic and development correlates including private sector credit, revenue mobilisation, import payments for capital machineries, energy consumption, export receipts, employment generation etc.

Major objectives of the press briefing are: To release WEF's Global Competitiveness Report 2020 in Bangladesh; To report the state of competitiveness of Bangladesh in 2019 particularly in the backdrop of the covid-19 pandemic; To give voice to concerns as regards business environment in Bangladesh.

We are continuing to seek our Shadow Board members' views on whether the Official Cash Rate (OCR) should be negative and if the Reserve Bank should expand its quantitative easing (QE). Board members once again saw a reduced need for a negative OCR and further QE over the coming year. The expected implementation of a Funding for Lending programme (FLP) by the Reserve Bank was highlighted by some Board members as an influence on their view about the need for further stimulus. The Reserve Bank has indicated it was likely to implement the programme to offer secure long-term funding at low interest rates to banks by the end of this year. The aim of the FLP was to reduce borrowing costs for households and businesses in order to encourage them to borrow and invest. Shadow Board members continue to highlight the challenges facing New Zealand as it navigates the post-COVID recovery. However, members generally remain sceptical about the effectiveness of a negative OCR to stimulate the economy.

Countries around the world are increasingly alert to the potential social and financial benefits of Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs), which are sovereign cryptocurrencies. ASEAN should start thinking of a regional-digital currency to stay ahead and deepen regional economic integration.

The NZIER has been collecting information about the confidence of New Zealand businesses since 1975. We publish the results in the NZIER Quarterly Survey of Business Opinion (QSBO). When we reported that business confidence had fallen dramatically in late 2017, the Government, the Opposition, the press and all the other economists in New Zealand had a view on what this meant. Depending on who you talked to, the results were meaningless, a harbinger of doom, another example of the vast right-wing conspiracy or an interesting example of the views of businesses that provided some insights into how parts of the economy were tracking. Our own take is the QSBO is an important measure when interpreted carefully, but shouldn't be viewed in isolation of other data when making predictions. Given the level of interest in this topic, we have undertaken some more detailed analysis of the QSBO.

Discussion about the potential for a recession to hit at least one of the major economies has intensified in recent months. The US Federal Reserve has become more cautious about the outlook for the US economy, and over the past year has moved from a hiking bias to cutting interest rates. Here in New Zealand, the Reserve Bank embarked on another easing cycle by cutting the Official Cash Rate (OCR) at its May meeting and followed up with a 50 basis points cut at its August meeting. We look at what current conditions are telling us about the state of the New Zealand economy, and by considering the common indicators of a recession discuss how worried we should be. We also look at the levers available to try and combat the effects of a recession.

Korea and Vietnam have maintained more than 25 years of diplomatic relations. During the periods remarkable progress has been made in improving and upgrading their ties. A strategic partnership was signed between the two countries in 2009 in addition to free trade commitments under the framework of the ASEAN-Korea agreement (AKFTA). As a result, the trade and investment between Vietnam and Korea has increased exceptionally. Moreover, Vietnam's growth potential has been highly estimated due to favorable economic conditions such as increase in FDI inflow, multi- and bilateral FTAs, the establishment of the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) and so on. With its abundant low-wage workers, political stability, large-scale population also serving as positive factors for investment attraction into Vietnam, Korea's investments to Vietnam are rapidly increasing.