Mobilization of domestic capital: report and documents of the second working party of experts

The Economic Commission for Asia and the Far East has devoted considerable attention to means by which countries might increase their available domestic capital for economic development. It started its work by making a series of individual country studies of the financial institutions working to that end, including central and commercial banks, the unorganized market, the cooperative movement, savings institutions (including postal savings facilities), insurance companies, agricultural and industrial finance, and the government as a mobilizer and investor of domestic resources. This work culminated in July 1951, in the Commission's first major publication on the subject entitled Mobilization of Domestic Capital in Certain Countries of Asia and the Far East.

The work has been pursued through the preparation of papers and their consideration by two working parties of experts. The First Working Party met in November 1951. It concerned itself with three principal topics: impact of inflation on mobilization of domestic capital; measures for increasing government bond sales in Asia and the Far East; and measures for mobilizing savings, particularly rural areas. The conclusions and recommendations of this expert group and the principal papers submitted by the Secretariat, by experts from various countries and others. were issued as a publication entitled Mobilization of Domestic Capital: Report and Documents of the First Working Party of Experts.2

The Second Working Party met in September 1952. It put particular emphasis on the following subjects: current measures to mobilize domestic capital; industrial and agricultural finance and development corporations in Asia and the Far East; and foreign capital in relation to the mobilization of domestic capital.