Beneficial Ownership Transparency in Asia and the Pacific


Book Description

This publication examines beneficial ownership transparency in nine countries in Asia and the Pacific and explains how overcoming hurdles to ensure the full disclosure of company ownership is key to cracking down on crime and corruption. Focusing on countries including Armenia, Mongolia, and the Philippines, it offers a breakdown of relevant international standards and details challenges related to accurate data verification, collection, and disclosure. It highlights best practices, provides practical recommendations, and shows why a multipronged approach to cross-checking ownership information can help reduce money laundering, terrorism financing, tax evasion, and other economic crimes.




Asia-Pacific Trusts Law, Volume 2


Book Description

This book brings together leading legal scholars and practitioners from across the Asia-Pacific region to probe the ways in which trusts law has been adapted by various jurisdictions, and to analyse their causes and effects. The contributions discuss how the trust structure, with its inherent malleability, has been adapted to meet a diverse set of local needs, including social, religious, economic, commercial, or even historical needs. But in most instances, those needs - and the ways in which trusts law has been adapted to meet them - are not unique to a single jurisdiction: they often (coincidentally or otherwise) find much in common with others. By making its readers aware of the commonality of needs in Asia- Pacific, this book also aims to encourage coordination and cooperation in utilising trusts law to address shared concerns across the region.







Global Norm Compliance


Book Description

This book examines the implementation of, the spread of, and compliance with emerging global norms. Based on empirical country studies on the implementation of transparency norms defined by the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) – a multi-stakeholder process seeking to promote global standards for the transparent and accountable management of oil, gas and mineral resources –, it investigates the various factors and motivations affecting actors with regard to norm compliance. The book demonstrates that compliance with global norms depends on a combination of various factors, including motivations and conditions for introducing norms into the domestic political space; local actors’ level of commitment to the norm; and their capacity for norm compliance. Given its scope, the book will appeal to all international relations scholars interested in processes of norm localisation, compliance, and contestation.




Malaysia


Book Description

Malaysia registered a strong economic recovery in 2022, backed by its well diversified economy, sound policy frameworks, and commodity exporter status. While monetary policy started a gradual post-pandemic normalization, record costly spending on fuel subsidies broadly kept inflationary pressures suppressed in 2022. Meanwhile, the new national unity government has signaled its commitment to the reform priorities outlined in the Twelfth Malaysia Plan (12MP) and the 2023 Budget to propel the economy toward net-zero greenhouse gas emissions and high-income status.




Thailand: 2021 Article IV Consultation-Press Release; Staff Report; and Statement by the Executive Director for Thailand


Book Description

A nascent recovery is underway in Thailand following the COVID-19 downturn. Ample policy buffers, underpinned by judicious management of public finances, allowed the authorities to implement a multipronged package of fiscal, monetary, and financial policies to mitigate the COVID-19 impact on households, businesses, and the financial system. This, together with rigorous containment measures, led to a successful flattening of the infection curve during most of 2020. Nevertheless, the pandemic has taken a large toll on the economy, potentially inducing long-term scarring and increasing inequality.




Prioritizing Development


Book Description

An analysis of the UN's development targets up until 2030, and the case for prioritizing the most powerful investment areas.




Malaysia


Book Description

Malaysia’s growth momentum has slowed but remains resilient to external headwinds. While monetary policy has paused its tightening cycle, fiscal policy is consolidating, and the ringgit had been under pressure through most of 2023. The government’s commitment to the reform priorities outlined in its national strategic plans is yet to fully materialize, with the economy’s path to high-income status hanging in the balance.




OECD Investment Policy Reviews: Myanmar 2020


Book Description

Only six years sets this second OECD Investment Policy Reviews: Myanmar apart from the first review published in 2014, but much progress has occurred in investment policies and related areas in Myanmar in the interim. Nonetheless, the reform momentum needs to be sustained and deepened for the benefits of recent investment climate reforms to be shared widely and for growth to be environmentally sustainable, ultimately contributing toward the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).




Philippines


Book Description

GDP contracted by 91⁄2 percent in 2020—a much steeper decline than during the Asian Financial Crisis (AFC)—but it is now recovering with the easing of containment measures and economic policy support. Banks are closely connected to the corporate sector through high credit exposures and conglomerate ownership linkages. The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) may list the Philippines as a jurisdiction with serious Anti-Money Laundering and Combatting the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) deficiencies in 2021. The country is also vulnerable to climate change (physical) risks, especially the destruction of physical capital from typhoons.