South Asia has a rich history of informal foreign exchange markets such as the well-known Hundi and Hawala . These informal networks play a significant role in traditional societies and informal…

Zoe Leiyu Xie, Xiao'ou Zhu |

South Asia, battered by three years of upheaval from the COVID-19 pandemic and spillovers from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, faces a combination of good and bad news for its economies. On the…

Jiemin Ren, Zoe Leiyu Xie |

Digital public infrastructure can enable essential society-wide functions and services such as identification, payments, and data exchange.

Vyjayanti T Desai, Jonathan Marskell, Georgina Marin, Minita Varghese |

As the gusts of the COVID-19 pandemic quieten, South Asian economies, left fragile and uneven in their recovery, are facing renewed headwinds: high inflation, rising fiscal deficits, and…

Zoe Leiyu Xie, Xiao'ou Zhu |

As the COVID19 pandemic rages and governments struggle to respond to the economic crisis and ensure fair access to vaccines, the front pages of many newspapers have featured more and more…

Alan Doig, Francesca Recanatini |

South Asia is one of the most vulnerable regions to climate change and loss of biodiversity. In 2021, the world needs to hear a united voice from South Asia at the multilateral conferences in…

Shyam Saran |

Steady progress in strengthening PFM policies and systems, has helped Bhutan score higher on all six World Governance Indicators compared to other countries in South Asia.

Tshering Dorji |

As they respond to the coronavirus (COVID-19), countries have a unique opportunity to plan for stronger and greener economies.

John Roome |

As planning for recovery from the impacts of COVID-19 begins, the big question is what form this new economy might take?

Urvashi Narain, Hasita Bhammar |

Economic activity in South Asia decelerated sharply in 2019 amid financial sector issues in India, monetary tightening in Pakistan, and global headwinds to regional exports. Five charts illustrate…

Temel Taskin |