Recovering E. Asia lacks quality growth, says WB

Recovering E. Asia lacks quality growth, says WB

BANGKOK (AFP): Although developing countries in East Asia are
recovering from the regional economic crisis, many states are not
delivering "quality growth" to their citizens, a leading World
Bank official said here on Wednesday.

"Quantity and quality need to go together for real growth," a
combination which has not always occurred in developing East
Asia, said Vinod Thomas, vice president of the World Bank
Institute, the bank's training arm.

"Though Thailand ranked seventh in the world in GDP per capita
growth over the past quarter-century, there is considerable
discussion among the public about the value of this growth," he
said.

Much of Thailand, Indonesia and other Southeast Asian states'
apparent gross domestic product (GDP) growth has been negated by
the concurrent destruction of the environment and inequality in
access to education, Thomas said.

"The size of a human body grows the more you consume, but the
composition of the diet matters more," he said, referring to this
ecological destruction.

In several South and Southeast Asian states, especially India
and Indonesia, access to education had not improved over the past
quarter century, he said.

"No country has achieved sustained growth without substantial
and efficient investments in education."

Thomas was speaking at the launch of a World Bank-funded study
called "The Quality of Growth".

The study analyzed to what extent developing states had
embraced qualitative growth such as income distribution and
environmental protection.

Despite environmental and educational problems, developing
East Asia has made inroads towards producing high-quality growth,
Thomas said.

Over the 10-year period that the World Bank studied, the
percentage of the East Asian population living in poverty fell
from 26.6 percent to 15.3 percent.

The World Bank defines poverty as an individual living on less
than one dollar per day.

"The last decade of the 20th century witnessed striking
progress in many parts of the world," said Thomas.

In order to further reduce poverty and improve quality of
life, states must address qualitative aspects of growth such as
greater security of life and a more sustainable environment, the
study said.

"Some lower income countries say 'Why not growth first, clean
up later? Why not worry about inequality later?' But this is not
a tenable strategy," Thomas said.

The World Bank believes this broadening of the definition of
growth will pay dividends.

"For example, less air and water pollution or less degradation
of natural resources can be extremely beneficial to the welfare
of the poor because of the positive effects on their health," the
study said.