Join Asia Society Australia for the launch of The Asian Development Bank’s flagship economic publication, Asian Development Outlook 2019 (ADO). The Outlook provides a comprehensive analysis of macroeconomic issues in developing Asia and the Pacific, including growth projections by country and region.

The ADO 2019 theme chapter Strengthening Disaster Resilience shows that disasters, including their causes and consequences, are shaped by the dynamics of the economy, society, and environment in which they occur. Increasing disaster risk is a growing threat to the development and prosperity of countries across Asia and the Pacific, and the consequences — particularly in terms of fatalities and economic impacts —  tend to be more severe in developing countries and affect poor and marginalized people disproportionally. The report analyzes how disaster risks are reduced or amplified by market mechanisms (including insurance and supply chains), by government action (including infrastructure investment, early warning systems, and recovery assistance), and through the actions of individuals and communities. Finally, the report presents a new framing for “building back better”, focusing on building back safe, fast, fair, and ensuring future economic potential. 

The ADO presentation by Valerie Mercer-Blackman, Senior Economist at the Economist Research and Regional Cooperation Department will address:

•    Economic prospects for developing Asia and the Pacific
•    US monetary policy uncertainty and its implications for Asian exchange rate volatility
•    Exchange rate changes and their implications for financial conditions
•    How Asian exchange rate depreciations have affected domestic financing conditions
•    Trends in disaster impacts across the region - frequency, magnitude and the resulting losses and damages
•    Policies to improve disaster resilience in developing Asia            

Ananya Basu, Principal Economist from ADB’s Pacific Department, will discuss developments and forecasts for the Pacific region.

Date: Wednesday 3 April 2019
Time: 11:00 am arrival for 11:15 am start – 12:30pm
Venue: Monash University (CBD Location), Level 7, 271 Collins Street, Melbourne VIC 3000

For more information or media enquiries about this event please contact [email protected] or 0281999402

Our speakers

Ananya Basu Principal Economist, Asian Development Bank

Ms. Ananya Basu is currently Principal Economist at the Pacific Department (PARD) of the Asian Development Bank (ADB). She works on public sector management operations in PARD, and with the economics team on the Asian Development Outlook and the biannual Pacific Economic Monitor publications. She has also worked on strategy and policy issues in ADB, and was the Senior Advisor to ADB’s Managing Director General during 2015–2016. Prior to joining ADB in 2012, she was a Senior Economist at the World Bank, based in the New Delhi Resident Mission, where she processed and implemented several policy-based operations in India, Bangladesh and Bhutan. She has also worked with the World Bank’s economics research department in Washington D.C., on public finance and economic development. Ms. Basu has a Ph.D. in Economics from Harvard University.

Valerie Mercer-Blackman Senior Economist, Asian Development Bank

Valerie Mercer-Blackman is a Senior Economist at the Economics Research and Regional Cooperation department of ADB, currently focusing on regional trends in Asia and the Pacific and macro monitoring tools. Her recent research at ADB focused on diversification, trade and productivity issues focusing on Bangladesh and Malaysia in particular. Her past analytical work includes growth drivers, investment and fiscal issues in developing countries, specifically investment and economic growth. Prior to joining the ADB, she worked as a macroeconomist for the Caribbean Department at the Inter-American Development Bank and on Latin America at the International Monetary Fund. She holds a Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Pennsylvania and a Bachelor of Arts from Yale University.

About the Asia Development Bank

The Asian Development Bank was conceived in the early 1960s as a financial institution that would be Asian in character and foster economic growth and cooperation in one of the poorest regions in the world. ADB assists its members, and partners, by providing loans, technical assistance, grants, and equity investments to promote social and economic development. ADB is composed of 67 members, 48 of which are from the Asia and Pacific region.

Our Forecast Asia series – presented across the Asia Society’s global network – offers assessments and interpretations of trends and developments in Asia by leading economists, business, political and social thinkers and visionaries.

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Asia Society Australia is generously supported by the Victorian State Government.