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………