Pacific Private Sector Development Initiative: Annual Progress Report 2008

Abstract

Pacific island countries are increasingly recognizing the importance of a vibrant private sector to fuel sustained economic growth and eliminating the core constraints to private sector development (PSD) that many of the countries in the region share. The Private Sector Development Initiative (PSDI), a regional technical assistance project of the Asian Development Bank (ADB), cofinanced with the Australian Agency for International Development (AusAID), was established to help Pacific countries address these core constraints to PSD. This is the second annual progress report of the PSDI. It provides an overview of the rapidly growing portfolio of reform projects supported by PSDI in 2008, as well as the expected impacts and outcomes of this initiative. The report demonstrates that PSDI is unique in the region, both in the way it identifies projects for assistance and implements cross-cutting private sector-oriented initiatives to promote sustainable economic growth throughout the Pacific region.