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Asia must narrow economic,
social disparities
Singapore—Asia must work harder to narrow economic and social
disparities that remain despite the region’s economic boom, the head
of Brunei’s economic development board said here Friday. While Asian
economies have resumed strong economic growth 10 years after the
1997-1998 financial crisis, the per capita income of the region’s
richest country, Japan, is 200 times that of its poorest nation,
Timothy Ong said. “As we celebrate the achievements that statistics
tell us, we need to remind ourselves how disparate the region
remains and how disparity in certain areas is growing and how much
more needs to be done,” he said at a forum organised by the London
School of Economics.
Ong, acting chairman of the Brunei Economic Development Board, said
inequality was rising not only in terms of incomes but also in
educational attainment and access to basic services. Japan’s per
capita income is more than 20 times the average for East Asia, he
told an audience of business executives, academics and diplomats.
Even in China, the income disparity between some of its cities and
rural areas can be as high as 14 times, he said, adding this could
have implications for “social cohesion.”
“
Consider the fact that whenever we point to examples of East Asia’s
prowess in technology, in innovation, in science and in mathematics,
a few countries always make the list and there is no mention of the
rest,” he said. Wealthy economies like South Korea, Singapore and
Taiwan spend 2.0-2.5 percent of their gross domestic product (GDP)
for research and development, he said, while Indonesia, the
Philippines and Thailand spend only 0.1-0.2 percent of their GDP in
that area. Ong said the number of patents per 100,000 people is six
to nine times higher in emerging Asia than in Latin America and the
developing countries of Europe.
But the “vast majority” of these patents are from Taiwan, South
Korea, Hong Kong and Singapore, “with the rest lagging far, far, far
behind,” he said. “Consider the implications of large parts of
emerging Asia being left out of the new economic geography that we
celebrate today,” he said. —AFP
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