Republic of Korea
India
9.7
20.1
2.4
9.2
0.7
Population undernourished
9.5
3.7
2.7
3.5
3.5
7.2
0.9
3.6
0.3
Primary enrolment
0.8
0.3
0.2
0.3
0.3
0.6
0.1
0.3
0.0
Primary completion
1.4
0.6
0.2
0.5
0.5
1.0
0.1
0.5
0.0
Gender parity in primary enrolment
0.5
0.2
0.2
0.2
0.2
0.4
0.1
0.2
0.0
Under-5 mortality
13.1
5.1
3.8
4.9
4.9
10.1
1.2
4.9
0.3
Infant mortality
12.3
4.8
3.6
4.7
4.6
9.7
1.1
4.6
0.3
Maternal mortality
10.0
3.9
3.1
4.1
4.0
8.4
1.0
3.7
0.3
Indonesia
9.8
Thailand
7.5
Malaysia
9.6
Poverty ratio
Singapore
Philippines
24.5
China
Hong Kong, China
Table II-9 – Fiscal stimulus packages and estimates of resulting increase in MDG indicator value
Note: Poverty, population undernourished, under-5 mortality rate, infant mortality rate and maternal mortality indicators decrease following additional growth. Other indicators increase.
Seeking a double dividend Each country that introduces a stimulus package will have mixed motives – generally hoping to boost economic growth in both short and long terms. For some countries the threat of an economic downturn can provide an opportunity to increase spending on large-scale infrastructure that will build a platform for greater productive capacities in the future. For other countries, however, the major objective may be to protect the poor so they will be looking to focus the boost more on social safety nets.
well as progressing further towards their social development goals through pro-MDG spending. This may well include infrastructure – but of a type whose construction is more likely to benefit the poor. Packages of this type will not only give a larger boost to economic growth but also help achieve the MDGs – a double dividend. Many Asia-Pacific countries should also be considering introducing more automatic stabilizers in their fiscal policies. While in the past these may have been considered too expensive for wide use, there should still be opportunities for developing such measures through stronger systems of social protection, which are the subject of the next chapter.
In practice, many countries, rich and poor, often default to infrastructure spending. But as this chapter has indicated, for the poorer developing countries this may not be the wisest policy. Such countries might do better by bringing in greater balance to their stimulus measures, thereby stimulating additional short-term growth as
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