The Changing Pattern of Development Finance in Southeast Asia: Drivers, Trends and Impacts

ISEAS-LOWY INSTITUTE JOINT SEMINAR

About the Hybrid Seminar

Most Southeast Asian countries are still developing economies with significant financing needs, notably for infrastructure, human development, and responding to climate change. International development cooperation has therefore a critical role to play. Yet, development support from the international community has dwindled to the lowest level ever recorded, even as China and Western governments increasingly use development finance as a tool for influence amid intensifying geostrategic tensions.

Understanding the scale and contours of development finance in Southeast Asia is of critical interest to governments in the region and their development partners.

The seminar will consider how the sourcing, composition, and quantum of development finance has been evolving over the past decade, and its implications for the region, presently and into the future. It will draw upon the findings of a recent study from the Lowy Institute that tracks and analyses more than 120,000 development projects in Southeast Asia from 107 partners from 2015 onwards.

About the Speakers

Alexandre Dayant is a senior economist and Deputy Director of the Indo-Pacific Development Centre, a dedicated policy research centre within the Lowy Institute. Alexandre directs both the Lowy Institute Pacific Aid Map and the Lowy Institute Southeast Asia Aid Map projects, which provide the world’s most comprehensive data tracking of all official aid and other development finance flows to the Pacific Islands and Southeast Asia. Prior to joining the Institute in 2017, Alexandre worked as a management consultant for PwC in Mexico.

Satish Chand is currently the Professor of Economics in the School of Business at the University of New South Wales and based at the Australian Defence Force Academy in Canberra. He is also a Research Associate of the National Research Institute in Papua New Guinea and an Adjunct Professor at the Crawford School of Economics and Government at the Australian National University (ANU). Before joining UNSW, Chand worked for the Australian Commonwealth Treasury and the Australian Taxation Office.

Stephen Howes is a Professor of Economics at the Crawford School of Public Policy at the Australian National University. He is the Director of the Development Policy Centre. Stephen served as Director of the International and Development Economics program of the Crawford School from 2009 to 2014. Prior to joining the Crawford School in 2009, Stephen was Chief Economist at the Australian Agency for International Development. He worked from 1994 to 2005 at the World Bank, first in Washington and then in Delhi, where he was Lead Economist for India. In 2008, he worked on the Garnaut Review on Climate Change, where he managed the Review’s international work stream.

Sarah Y. Tong graduated from Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics and worked at the Development Research Center of China’s State Council. She obtained her Ph.D. in Economics from the University of California at San Diego. She is Senior Research Fellow of NUS’ East Asian Institute and its cluster head for the economics team. Her research interests concentrate on the development and transformation of Chinese Economy, including development in trade and foreign investment, development of regions, financial sector reforms, the reforms of state-owned enterprises, industrial policies and restructuring.

Attending the Event In-person at ISEAS

To join the event in-person at ISEAS, please register via the ISEAS mobile app, available on iOS and Android via the Apple or Play store. Search “ISEAS” to find or scan this QR code.

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Seating capacity is limited. Do register early to avoid disappointment.

Attending the Event Virtually via Webinar

To join the event virtually at the specified date and time using your internet devices, please register here to receive your unique login link for the webinar via the zoom platform.

If you have questions for the speaker, please key in your questions via the Q&A, stating your name and affiliation. The moderator will field them to the speakers during the Q&A session.