This report examines three economies in different parts of Asia---Georgia, Sri Lanka, and Viet Nam---that introduced power sector reforms in recent years to create a commercially viable and efficient power sector. Each took a different route in moving away from a monopoly state-owned utility toward the common goal of a competitive, market-based, and better-regulated power sector. This report documents the broad spectrum of their power sector reform efforts, experiences, and relative successes as well as shortfalls, then uses international standard indicators to assess their economic, social, and environmental outcomes. Other economies should be able to draw valuable lessons and insights from this report for their own power-sector planning and policy and strategy formulation.

Viet Nam envisions a completely competitive power sector in the long term, including full wholesale and retail competition. To attain this goal, it unbundled its power sector's monopoly structure and instituted institutional, regulatory, and pricing reforms. Although considerable progress has been made, implementation has not been expeditious, with the government still retaining a strong vested ownership and management interest in the power sector. Further restructuring is needed to ensure complete independence of the system players and to attain pricing transparency. In this country report, the Asian Development Bank assesses Viet Nam's experience in reforming its power sector for insights that other Asian developing economies could find useful when pursuing their own power sector planning and policy and strategy formulation.

Sri Lanka's power sector reforms were undertaken as part of a larger overall economic recovery effort and much-needed reconstruction program following a 30-year civil war. The power sector's restructuring, primarily geared toward encouraging more competition and improved regulation, has brought about wider access to the grid, lower transmission and distribution losses, and a more efficient generation system; but it was met with limited success in unbundling the power system and in making electricity tariffs cost-based and more efficient. This country report by the Asian Development Bank assesses Sri Lanka's experience in reforming its power sector for lessons and insights that other economies could find useful when pursuing their own power sector planning and policy and strategy formulation.

Reforms pursued by Georgia in recent years have made its power sector commercially viable as well as more efficient and reliable. Now unbundled and largely privatized, the former state monopoly has developed an operational wholesale market and has made great progress in making its operations and system pricing more efficient. However, it still lacks independent regulatory competence and pricing transparency, and it remains vulnerable to external supply shocks, having to balance shortfalls in domestic hydropower generation with fuel imports for its power stations and with gas imports for its thermal plants. This country report assesses the reform efforts and experiences of Georgia’s power sector for lessons and insights that other economies could find useful in their own power sector planning and policy and strategy formulation.

This sector directional guide describes the context and rationale that will guide the agenda of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) in supporting developing member countries with financing, knowledge, convening ability, and technical assistance to ensure improved the coherence, relevance, efficiency, and effectiveness of ADB’s energy sector investments. It outlines the priorities and focus for the energy sector in line with Strategy 2023. The guide is designed to be a living document, to be updated as needed to remain relevant to the dynamic development context of Asia and the Pacifi c. A midterm review will be conducted following the expected review of the Energy Policy in 2025.

This book presents an integrated approach to sustainably fulfilling energy requirements, considering various energy-usage sectors and applicable technologies in those sectors. It discusses smart cities, focusing on the design of urban transport systems and sources of energy for mobility. It also shares thoughts on individual consumption for ensuring the sustainability of energy resources and technologies for emission reductions for both mobility and stationary applications. For the latter, it examines case studies related to energy consumption in the manufacturing sector as well as domestic energy requirements. In addition it explores various distribution and policy aspects related to the power sector and sources of energy such as coal and biomass. This book will serve as a valuable resource for researchers, practitioners, and policymakers alike.

This report discusses key issues surrounding finance mobilisation for achieving Georgia’s climate change and green growth targets, and new investment opportunities for developing its capital market. The report focuses particularly on finance for climate change mitigation from various sources – ...

"Poverty and Social Impact Analysis (PSIA) is an approach used increasingly by governments, civil society organizations, the World Bank, and other development partners to examine the distributional impacts of policy reforms on the well-being of different stakeholders groups, particularly the poor and vulnerable. PSIA has an important role in the elaboration and implementation of poverty reduction strategies in developing countries because it promotes evidence-based policy choices and fosters debate on policy reform options. Poverty and Social Impact Analysis of Reforms presents a collection of case studies that illustrate the spectrum of sectors and policy reforms to which PSIA can be applied; it also elaborates on the broad range of analytical tools and techniques that can be used for PSIA. The case studies provide examples of the impact that PSIA can have on the design of policy reforms and draw operational lessons for PSIA implementation. The case studies deal largely with policy reforms in a single sector, such as agriculture (crop marketing boards in Malawi and Tanzania and cotton privatization in Tajikistan); energy (mining sector in Romania and oil subsidies in Ghana); utilities (power sector reform in Ghana, Rwanda, and transition economies, and water sector reform in Albania); social sectors (education reform in Mozambique and social welfare reform in Sri Lanka); taxation reform (Nicaragua); as well as macroeconomic modeling (Burkina Faso)."

This 2017 Article IV Consultation highlights that Maldives’ economy grew by 3.9 percent in 2016 and continues to improve in 2017 on a recovery in tourism and a continued strength in construction. The fiscal deficit widened in 2016 driven by lower-than-expected revenue and large arrears clearance despite unchanged current spending. Public debt as a share of GDP rose nearly 11.5 percentage points from 2014–16. The outlook is for a strengthening recovery in the near term, with low inflation, loose financial conditions, but with significant downside risks from a fragile fiscal and external position. Growth is projected to recover in 2017 and stabilize over the medium term.

This review uses the OECD Policy Framework for Investment to present an assessment of the investment climate in Viet Nam and to discuss the challenges and opportunities faced by the government of Viet Nam in its reform efforts.