Ranking Asia-Pacific’s finance ministers is designed to provide moral support to the success stories and to give a nudge to those who could do better, or at least prompt discussion among their constituency.
They have a difficult task ahead of them in 2015. Governments across the Asia-Pacific region are faced with a mountain of debt, weak demographics and the onset of deflationary pressure.
States have not deleveraged since the 2008 global financial crisis as many had promised. As the outlook for economic growth darkens, fiscal discipline will become even harder to enforce politically.
Global debt has risen by $57 trillion since 2007 to $199...
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