News

Outcomes: Impact of Financial Crisis On South Asia’s Power Sector
March 01 2011

A recently released ESMAP report on the impact of the global financial crisis on investments in South Asia's electricity sector was discussed in Dhaka and New Delhi in early February 2011. The report aims to inform and possibly influence power sector policies in India, Bangladesh and Pakistan.
 

South Asia's major economies were largely cushioned from adverse effects of the financial crisis because remittances, domestic investments and exports of certain categories of goods  kept up during the crisis. The report further says the region was largely insulated because of its limited integration with, and dependence on, world financial markets. In addition, strong and timely policy interventions  helped minimize adverse impact.
 

The findings of the study were presented by one of its authors Mohua Mukherjee, Senior Energy Specialist of the World Bank during dissemination road shows in Dhaka and New Delhi. An overview of similar power sector vulnerability assessments in developing and transition economies was presented by Istvan Dobozi, the Lead Energy Economist, ESMAP. The vulnerability assessment program is ESMAP’s contribution towards the implementation of the World Bank Group’s Infrastructure Recovery and Assets Platform. Both events were attended by high level policy makers, regulators and power sector experts, private sector representatives and other stakeholders.

 

A summary of key messages following both workshops can be found here

and 

presentations on Power sector assessments conducted in several countries are below:

 

Related article:

South Asia’s Power Sector Relatively Unaffected by Global Financial Crisis, Says New Report