The Asia-Pacific region has been leading the global economic growth over the past few decades. However, rapid economic growth without sufficient inclusiveness is now constraining the region's future economic and broader development prospects. The COVID-19 pandemic has further revealed the vulnerability of the region due to lack of inclusiveness. The Survey 2021 estimated that 89 million people could have been pushed back into extreme poverty in the region due to COVID-19, contributing to an already increasing trend in income inequality in Asia and the Pacific. Going forward, concerns over a "K-shaped" economic recovery, both within and across countries, and the desire to ensure that the post-pandemic recovery is consistent with long-term inclusive development are broadly shared among policy makers and experts, as revealed during policy dialogues organized to disseminate the messages of Survey 2021. Additionally, international commitment to inclusive development, as manifested in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, is pushing distributional issues to the forefront of global policy agenda. With a focus on the role of economic policies in promoting inclusive development, the Economic and Social Survey of Asia and the Pacific 2022 will analyze the importance of effective government actions and the role of fiscal, monetary/financial and structural policies in enhancing inclusiveness, keeping in view the considerable impacts of COVID-19 on inclusiveness and inequality.

Given the urgency of the SDG Stimulus and that public debt distress is likely to remain a major macroeconomic policy challenge for Asia and the Pacific in coming years, the Survey 2024 will continue to focus on fiscal and public debt challenges and policy options. After outlining the changing economic, financial and development context and its medium-term fiscal implications, the Survey 2024 will dive deeper into policy options that developing Asia-Pacific economies, as debtors and as part of the international community, can explore to boost affordable and long-term financing for essential public spending on sustainable development and reduce the associated sovereign credit risks and costs. In addition to identifying 'what' policy actions should be taken, the Survey 2024 will also give emphasis on 'how to' implement the needed policy actions. Insights from approaches such as political economy, behavioural science, and country case studies will be used.

Most Asian and Pacific economies showed surprising strength in 2002, despitecontinued weaknesses in the world economy. Surging intraregional trade, combined with fiscal stimulus and monetary easing, lifted regional production by approximately 5 percent, 2 points higher than the 2001 rate, and more than 3 points higher than the expansion of global output in 2002. This has raised hopes that the region would experience a modest uplift in economic growth in 2003. Still, the rate of economic expansion was several percentage points below that which prevailed before the crisis of 1997-1998, resulting in lower levels of job creation and new pressures on government budgets, including fiscal allocations for basic social services and poverty reduction.This edition of the Economic and Social Survey of Asia and the Pacific includes an in-depth look at the efforts of the public sector in education and health, in particular to reach women, the poor, people living in rural and remote areas and others to whom greater attention must be paid. Given the large resources required for this, the responsibility for funding cannot be that of the public sector alone but as the Survey indicates, channels that involve civil society and the private sector have to be tapped.The Survey also focuses on environmental degradation, which often accompanies rapid economic growth and adversely affects the lives of the poor in a disproportionate manner. In recognition of these tensions, the Survey examines the links between the environment and poverty as well as the policy options available for improving the environment while reducing poverty. It recommends actions that will help to ensure property rights for the poor, improve access to affordable, environmentally clean technologies and reduce vulnerability to natural disasters through better disaster-management planning.