The Asian Development Bank has launched the fifth phase of its Pacific Private Sector Development Initiative, backed by US$12.85 million in renewed funding from ADB and the Government of Australia.
The announcement was made in Sydney on 12 October. ADB said the new phase will continue to support the Pacific with reforms that make it easier for businesses across the region to start, operate, invest and grow.
Since it began in 2007, the initiative, known as PSDI, has supported partner governments in ADB's 14 Pacific developing member countries to put in place more than 500 reforms, the bank said. These include changes to the laws and regulations that govern business activity, and online business registries that ADB said have made starting a business faster and less costly.
The bank said the programme has also widened access to finance, through secured transactions frameworks and capital market reforms, and through new regulatory frameworks for innovative financing. It has strengthened the governance and performance of state-owned enterprises and helped build a pipeline of women qualified for senior executive and board roles across the region, ADB said.
"With this commitment, PSDI's important work to modernize the laws and frameworks that underpin business activity will continue, and so too will its efforts to ensure those reforms work in practice: stronger institutions, digital systems that simplify business processes, and finance that reaches small enterprises and women entrepreneurs," said ADB Pacific Department Regional Head for Private Sector Development Haroun Khawaja.
Khawaja said ADB values its long-standing partnership with Australia, which has made the programme's contribution to Pacific reform possible since 2007.
Pacific economies face high costs of doing business, ADB said. Markets are small and dispersed, exposure to climate and disaster risk is high, access to finance is limited, and legal and regulatory frameworks have not always kept pace with modern business needs, the bank said. Those conditions can hold back investment and job creation, as well as opportunities for women and small businesses, according to the release.
Under Phase V, ADB said it will work with Pacific governments on reforms to modernise business and investment laws, and financial sector regulation. It will also strengthen the institutions that carry out those reforms, including business registries and state-owned enterprises, and develop new approaches to financing micro, small and medium-sized enterprises, the bank said.
ADB said the new phase will put greater emphasis on climate and disaster resilience, digital government, anti-money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism, and disability inclusion. The bank said the programme will also build data and institutional systems that support the economic participation of women, and produce knowledge and outreach products that make the case for reform.
Phase V is financed through US$3 million from ADB's Technical Assistance Special Fund and US$9.85 million in cofinancing from the Government of Australia. Across its four earlier phases, the programme received US$76.2 million from Australia, US$8.9 million from New Zealand and US$11.1 million from ADB.