Supporting Development in the Pacific: The Pacific Index

Simon Feeny

RMIT University

The Pacific: Paradise Almost Lost?

• Low and highly volatile economic growth– Lowest and most volatile of all developing country regions

• Widespread non-achievement of the Millennium Development Goals

– Most countries will not achieve most MDG targets

– Only two countries will achieve MDG1, of halving income poverty

• Private sector is heavily constrained– Ease of doing business rankings have declined

• Governance challenges remain– Ranked towards the bottom of policy and institution

performance ratings

ODA per capita, 2012

Key Policy Messages

• Aid alone is not enough to address the development challenges faced by the Pacific Island countries

– Note: donors should always strive to make aid more effective, but aid itself is not the core problem - empirical research suggests that Pacific Island country growth over recent decades would be lower in the absence of ODA

• Addressing these challenges requires responses from within the Pacific Island countries

• External support for development in the Pacific Island countries needs to look beyond aid, to other drivers of growth and development

The ADRI-Sustineo Pacific Index

• The Pacific Index is a response to these messages

• Result of a three year collaborative research project between the Alfred Deakin Research Institute and Sustineo Pty. Ltd.

• Prof. Mark McGillivray, Dr Sasi Iamsiraroj, Mr Marc Curran

• Adaptation of the Commitment to Development Index (CDI)

The ADRI-Sustineo Pacific Index

• The Pacific Index assesses rich country (OECD) support for

development in the Pacific

• Seven policies–Aid–Trade–Migration– Investment (finance)–The Environment–Security–Technology

• The Pacific Index provides a league table with an overall composite

score for each rich country as well as a score for each of the seven

drivers

Pacific Index: League Table………