Asian Development Bank

For ADB members in Asia and the Pacific, stronger tax systems are now more important than ever-to boost revenues enabling recovery from the economic shocks of COVID-19, and to reinforce implementation of Sustainable Development Goals. Using comparative data up to the fiscal year 2020 and drawing from the International Survey on Revenue Administration (ISORA 2021), this sixth edition in our series analyzes the administrative setups and performance...

This guidebook analyzes India's plans to use rooftop solar power to boost its renewable energy, explains the benefits it offers, and details why new business models and market mechanisms would drive greater adoption. It examines India's renewable energy targets and explains why rooftop solar generation has been slow to increase despite an enabling policy environment and attractive economics. It identifies the roles and responsibilities of various...

After a disappointing 2019, growth prospects in developing Asia have worsened under the impact of the current health crisis. Signs of incipient recovery near the turn of this year were quickly overthrown as COVID-19 broke out in January 2020 in the region's largest economy and subsequently expanded into a global pandemic. Disruption to regional and global supply chains, trade, and tourism, and the continued spread of the outbreak, leave the region...

This report explains how rising climate and disaster risk is set to increase the vulnerability of Asia and the Pacific region's urban poor and identifies how to engender systemic change to strengthen their resilience. It stresses the need for targeted actions to tackle the underlying drivers of vulnerability and to make the urban poor central to decision-making. It shows why households, neighborhoods, and cities are key entry points for the investment...

Carbon pricing is a key element of the broader climate policy architecture that can help countries reduce their greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions cost-effectively, while mobilizing fiscal resources to foster green recovery and growth. This publication introduces carbon pricing instruments and provides insights on how they can be designed to stimulate and not constrain economic activity in the context of recovery from the coronavirus disease (COVID-19)...

Cumulative transport investments under the Central Asia Regional Economic Cooperation (CAREC) program reached $23. 4 billion in 2017 through which approximately 9,964 kilometers of expressways or national highways were built or improved. For the upkeep of road corridors, CAREC countries agreed to take measures to set up road funds and road tolling to ensure adequate maintenance funding. This guide presents fundamental concepts of road tolling; addresses...

This sourcebook provides up-to-date information regarding ADB environmental safeguards, poverty and social analysis, and compliance procedures in order to support the process of health impact assessment. It is a useful reference for ADB staff, borrowers, executing agencies, consultants, and others seeking a better understanding of how to implement health impact assessments. The publication outlines the procedures, methods, and tools that health impact...

Technology-based startup enterprises are an increasingly important part of the business landscape in Asia and the Pacific. By applying innovative technologies to create new products and services, they can make a significant contribution to economic development while generating social and environmental benefits. However, to survive and then thrive, tech startups require an enabling ecosystem that includes supportive government policy, adequate access...

Supply chain disruptions caused by the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic have underscored the need for digital and paperless trade procedures to facilitate trade. This report reviews the impact of trade facilitation initiatives on trade costs in Asia and the Pacific since the pandemic began. A special chapter examines the pandemic's impact on the supply chains of critical goods such as vaccines, personal protective equipment, and food, and provides...

This guidebook shows how India plans to meet its ambitious rooftop solar energy targets and why identifying new business models, engaging utilities better, and developing new market mechanisms will speed up its adoption. It explains how factors such as access to finance, policy uncertainty, and a lack of credible developers are slowing the roll out, and how demand aggregation can help utilities lower costs, reduce risk, and expand market opportunities....