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Thailand is a fast emerging country that aspires to become a high-income economy by 2037. Strong growth has enabled the country to join the group of upper-middle-income economies in the early 2010s and to perform well in many areas. At the same time, the benefits of prosperity have not been shared evenly nationwide and the economic development has taken a toll on the environment. Moving forward, Thailand needs to master three transitions to build capabilities and sustain faster but also more inclusive economic growth: enabling further growth by unlocking the full potential of all Thailand’s regions; developing more effective methods of organisation and collaboration between actors and levels of government; managing water security and disaster risk. Based on the previous volume’s in-depth analysis and policy recommendations, this report suggests a set of actions to support these transitions. The actions focus on the North of Thailand, one of the most diverse and yet poorest regions of the country.

Peru has experienced remarkable socio-economic progress over the last two decades, enabling it to join the group of upper middle-income countries around 2010. However, challenges are ahead if the country is not to be caught in various development traps. Overcoming these challenges in the near future to take the economy to the next level and become a country with higher productivity, inclusive development and well-being for all will require sound policy reforms. Further efforts are needed on three main fronts: economic diversification, connectivity and formalisation of jobs. This report analyses the main challenges in these three priority areas and sets up a policy action plan. It also proposes a scorecard including a series of indicators for monitoring progress derived from the implementation of the reforms proposed in these three areas and presents the objectives for each indicator that Peru should aim to achieve by 2025 and 2030.

Peru has experienced significant improvements in economic growth, well-being and poverty reduction since the introduction of macroeconomic reforms, economic openness and more effective social programmes in the 1990s. However, the country still faces structural challenges to escape the middle-income trap and consolidate its emerging middle class. This report provides policy actions to tackle the main bottlenecks to boost inclusive development and well-being in Peru. In particular this report presents an in-depth analysis and policy recommendations to boost economic diversification and productivity, improve connectivity and reduce informality. Policy actions in these areas demand better institutions and improvements in areas and markets, including research and development and innovation, fiscal policy, education and skills, logistics and transport infrastructure as well as labour and product markets.

Peru has experienced significant improvements in growth, well-being and poverty reduction since the introduction of macroeconomic reforms, economic openness and more effective social programmes in the 1990s. However, the country still faces structural challenges to escape the middle-income trap and consolidate its emerging middle class. This report reviews the main bottlenecks to boost inclusive development and well-being in Peru. These include education and skills, the labour market, innovation, transport infrastructure and logistics, governance and trust in institutions. These dimensions have considerable implications for levels of productivity, inequalities and labour informality in Peru.

Paraguay has set itself ambitious development goals for 2030. To achieve them, it will have to tackle two major challenges: buttressing sources of sustainable economic prosperity and putting the country on a more inclusive development path. Progressing towards a more inclusive society will require a broad and vigorous reform agenda. First, the country’s healthcare system requires systemic reform to widen its coverage, reduce Paraguayans’ vulnerability in the face of health risks and increase the efficiency of health service provision. Second, the social protection system needs to overcome its fragmentation and become more effective in delivering the right services and risk management tools to citizens according to their needs. In particular, the pension system requires reforms to increase its coverage and become more equitable and more sustainable. Third, the quality and the inclusiveness of its education and training system need to be strengthened to generate the skills the economy needs, and provide opportunities to all. Based on the analysis and recommendations undertaken in Volumes 1 and 2 of this Multi-dimensional country review, this report identifies key areas for action and presents targeted action plans to kick-start reform. The report also provides a dashboard of monitoring indicators to support the reform agenda in the country.

Having achieved robust economic growth and remarkable macroeconomic stability over the past 15 years, Paraguay has set a course to become not only more prosperous, but also more inclusive by 2030. To deliver on its development ambition, the country will have to overcome a number of crosscutting constraints that limit progress towards widely shared improvements in citizen well-being, as identified in Volume 1 of the review. Putting Paraguay on a more inclusive development path requires co-ordinated actions to increase the capacity of the state to redistribute, to improve the delivery of public services, and to break the persistence of poverty and inequality across generations. This report discusses policy actions and priorities in three critical areas to make Paraguay’s development more inclusive. It presents in-depth analysis and recommendations to improve the effectiveness of social protection, the delivery of health services, and the formation of skills for all Paraguayans.

Paraguay has achieved strong and resilient growth and made progress across a range of development outcomes since it emerged from a prolonged period of economic and political instability in the early 2000s. In 2014, the country adopted its first National Development Plan, setting course towards an ambitious vision of the country’s future. To maintain the pace of economic growth and achieve more inclusive development Paraguay will need to overcome a number of institutional, economic and social constraints that challenge its development model. This first volume of the Multi-dimensional Review of Paraguay analyses the country’s development performance and presents the main constraints to the country’s development. It examines five broad areas, corresponding to the key areas of the Sustainable Development Goals: prosperity, people’s well-being, planet, peace and institutions, and partnerships and financing.

This MDCR is designed to help Panama formulate development strategies, and identify and support the policy reforms needed to achieve further sustainable and inclusive development. This review comes at a time when Panama is achieving high economic growth but further policy action is needed to expand socio-economic benefits across all economic sectors, regions and households.

Myanmar is in need of a structural transformation from an agrarian economy to one based more on a mix of modern activities, including manufacturing and services. Modernising the agricultural sector by building linkages to complementary non-agricultural activities – an “agricultural value chain” approach – could set in motion this process of structural transformation. Furthermore, given Myanmar’s level of economic development, its large rural population and the weight of agriculture in the economy, a development strategy that puts agriculture and rural development at its core has the potential to make a significant positive impact for millions. This third report of the Multi-dimensional Review of Myanmar synthesises the findings and recommendations from the first two reports according to the following priorities as defined by stakeholders in Myanmar: supporting the agri-food sector’s ability to respond to market demand for quality products; introducing innovative models of delivering extension services and training to upgrade agronomic and technical skills; providing the conditions for a vibrant financial system that meet the needs of rural areas; strengthening land rights; engaging citizens in the policy making process; and managing and maximising the benefits of emigration from rural areas.

Building on an initial assessment of constraints to development in Myanmar (Volume 1), this second volume provides analysis and policy recommendations in three key areas: structural transformation, education and skills, and financing development. It finds that Myanmar faces a crucial few years to shape growth towards a higher, more sustainable and equitable trajectory. To succeed, it will require a transformation of the economy from an agrarian base reliant on small-scale agriculture at present towards a broad range of modern activities. Building up the right skills in the workforce will be essential to support this structural transformation. Myanmar’s transformation will also depend upon how effectively the country can mobilise and allocate the financial resources needed to support its development, which could amount to as much as an additional 5-10% of GDP on average over the next two decades.

This volume is the first of the OECD Development Pathways, a new series that looks at multiple development objectives beyond an exclusive focus on growth. The series starts with Myanmar, a country to be covered for the first time by the OECD. This initial assessment shows that Myanmar’s success in achieving stable and sustainable growth will depend vitally on its ability to develop the institutional and social capital necessary to maintain macroeconomic and financial stability, to ensure the rule of law, to achieve environmentally sustainable development and to create an enabling environment for the private sector. To be sustainable, growth also needs to be more equitable and inclusive. Seizing the momentum created by the country’s opening and internal peace process will be imperative. Moreover, Myanmar’s increasing population provides a demographic dividend which needs to be reaped in the next couple of decades to boost the potential of the economy. After that, the population will begin ageing and Myanmar risks getting old before the incomes and living standards of its people can significantly improve.

Kazakhstan has embarked upon an ambitious reform agenda to realise its aspiration of becoming one of the top 30 global economies by 2050. The country’s economy and society have undergone deep transformations since independence. To sustain economic progress, overcome recent difficulties, and drive improvements in well-being to realise its aspirations, Kazakhstan will need to address a number of challenges to ensure its economy becomes more productive and diverse, and is sufficiently flexible and resilient in the face of an ever-shifting external environment. This next stage of economic transformation will require continuing reforms. This report discusses policy actions to address four key obstacles to development in Kazakhstan, identified in Volume 1 of this review. It presents in-depth analysis and recommendations to improve the economy’s resilience through diversification, to mobilise financing for development, to transform the role of the state in the economy, including through privatisation, and to improve the effectiveness of environmental regulations.

Kazakhstan’s economy and society have undergone deep transformations since the country declared independence in 1991. Kazakhstan’s growth performance since 2000 has been impressive, averaging almost 8% per annum in real terms and leading to job creation and progress in the well-being of its citizens. Extractive industries play an important role in the dynamism of the economy, but sources of growth beyond natural resource sectors remain underexploited. In the social arena, dimensions of well-being beyond incomes and jobs have not kept pace with economic growth.
Kazakhstan has set itself the goal of becoming one of the 30 most developed countries in the world by 2050. To sustain rapid, inclusive and sustainable growth and social progress, Kazakhstan will need to overcome a number of significant challenges. Natural-resource dependency, the concentration of economic clout and a fragile and underdeveloped financial sector limit diversification and economic dynamism. Widespread corruption still affects multiple state functions, undermines the business environment, meritocracy and entrepreneurial spirit. More generally, the state has limited capacity to fulfil some of its functions, which affects the delivery of public services like health and education, as well as the protection of the environment and the generation of skills.

El Salvador has made significant development progress in the past 30 years. The end of the civil war in 1992 marked the establishment of a liberal democracy and an open export-led development model, which led to a reduction in poverty and inequality. However, with economic growth averaging a modest 2.4% in the years before the COVID-19 pandemic, and productivity growth of 0.1% over the past decade, the post-war model has not generated the economic momentum or the jobs that the country needs. Decisive action is necessary to kickstart more robust, inclusive and sustainable development. Based on a multi-dimensional analysis of development in El Salvador, this report makes four priority recommendations: 1) build the conditions for a productive transformation and modernisation of the economy; 2) increase the quantity, quality and relevance of education; 3) manage water resources better to deliver water and sanitation for all in a sustainable manner; and 4) modernise the State so it can effectively deliver key public goods, from security to education to health, and successfully steer the next stage in the country’s development.

Since the beginning of the 21st century, Panama has exhibited remarkable economic growth and has reduced the gap in terms of income per capita with high-income countries. Social progress has also been achieved, mainly through the reduction of poverty and advances in some well-being dimensions. However, challenges remain with regard to overcoming the so-called middle-income trap and consolidating the middle-class. This first volume of the Multi-dimensional Country Review of Panama identifies the main barriers to further inclusive development. It highlights that promoting equitable, inclusive and sustainable economic growth and improving the well-being of all citizens should be at the core of Panama’s development strategies.