A second issue is whether the Asian countries need to alter their fiscal stance in light of emerging demographic trends. In the pension sector, this would imply whether it would be desirable to prefund higher outlays associated with pension as in Singapore and Malaysia or as with Medisave in Singapore for medical care.
Ultimately the question relates to whether a higher national savings rate is desirable, and the extent to this should be an explicit goal of policy. This is particularly true for East Asia where the aggregate and public sector savings rate are quite high and where even higher investment rates have fuelled higher economic growth and rising per capita income.