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Asia-Pacific Region

Rising inequality hinders growth

UNB, Dhaka
Growing disparity in incomes and access to social opportunities in developing countries in the Asia-Pacific region not only threatens social stability, but is also a key constraint on the region's economic dynamism, according to Survey 2014ofEscap.
Latest data from about 40 countries in the region show that the poorest 20 percent of the population of a country earn less than 10 percent of the national income, reported the survey of the regional development arm of the United Nations for the Asia-Pacific region.
High income inequality seriously undermines the economic and social achievements within the region. Thus the GDP per capita of Singapore would decline from US$53,266 to US$28,071 when adjusted for inequality, and the one of China from US$7,958 to US$4,472.
Escap's analysis of data from 26 economies in the region finds household debt levels in the region associated with inequality. This supports recent interna-
tional research that shows how lagging income growth leads the poorer sections of society into debt-financed consumption and ironically causes balance of payment crises.
A key challenge in many Asia-Pacific developing countries is to address gender inequality which inhibits full participation by women in public life.
"Allowing women and men to work equally in economic activities with equal pay, and realise their full potential, is integral to a nation's economic resilience and productivity, ” notes the survey.
Inequality is also associated with high levels of undernourishment which affected 533 million people in the region in 2013, accounting for about 63 percent of the world's hungry people.
Widening income inequality is a result of factors such as weak labour market institutions and social protection systems, poor education and insufficient access to productive resources like credit and land.
Another reason is excessive concentration of assets in the hands of a few. An analysis of ultra-high net worth individuals in the region shows that those with assets worth at least $30 million accounted for 30 percent of Asia-Pacific income in 2013.
About 49,000 persons (around 0.001
percent of the region's population in 2013) were classified as ultra-high net worth individuals and held about US$7.5 trillion of net wealth in 2012-2013.
The high and increasing share of the ultra rich in GDP is a manifestation of the political-business nexus as well as lax financial regulation and tax structures in these countries.