The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has formed a high-level panel comprising leading experts to tap into quick bounce back of the Southeast Asian economies after the coronavirus pandemic. ADB President Masatsugu Asakawa has launched the panel on Wednesday where economists, financial analysts, health experts, central bank governors, and other senior officials are included. The high-level panel includes Rema Hanna of the Harvard Kennedy School, Karen Tay Koh, former Singapore Ministry of Finance official and former deputy CEO of SingHealth; Ramayya Krishnan of the Carnegie Mellon University; Anup Malani of the University of Chicago; Raghuram Rajan of the University of Chicago and former Governor of the Reserve Bank of India and chief economist of the International Monetary Fund; Andrew Sheng of the Asia Global Institute; and Nicholas Stern of the London School of Economics and also the former head of the United Kingdom’s Government Economic Service and former chief economist of the World Bank. “We are providing a platform for ministers and well-known experts to discuss the immediate challenges posed by Covid-19 and identify areas worthy of additional analysis for the future,” said Mr. Asakawa at the first event, which was held virtually on 9 June. “The second and third waves of the disease are possible—indeed likely—and further economic decline would be costly. Countries face a whole host of cross-cutting issues that affect people and businesses. They have already learned useful lessons and can benefit from sharing these with each other.” The event drew senior officials from three of Southeast Asia’s largest economies, including Indonesian Finance Minister and ADB Governor Sri Mulyani Indrawati, Philippine Finance Secretary and ADB Governor Carlos G. Dominguez, and Bank of Thailand Governor Veerathai Santiprabhob. Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Governor and ADB Alternate Governor Benjamin Diokno and Philippines’ Acting Secretary for Socioeconomic Planning Karl Chua also joined. The panel, moderated by ADB Vice-President Ahmed M. Saeed, discussed lessons learned as countries took immediate measures to address the pandemic’s devastating health, social, economic, and financial impacts, and their medium- to long-term priorities. They also covered topics such as the need for structural reforms, innovation in domestic resource mobilisation, and how to make recovery sustainable amid global headwinds. On 13 April, ADB announced a 20 billion US dollar package to support developing member countries’ Covid-19 response. ADB has since approved $7.2 billion in rapid response loans and technical assistance, including 9 interventions under the Covid-19 pandemic response option (CPRO) totaling $5.52 billion for Bangladesh, Bhutan, Georgia, India, Indonesia, the Kyrgyz Republic, Mongolia, Nepal, and the Philippines.
