A round-up of public finance news stories from the Asia Pacific region you might have missed this week (May 13–17).

Japan's economy shows signs of recovery

Japan's economy, the third largest in the world, has registered the quickest growth in a year, pointing to economic recovery, as the government stepped up public works spending and eased credit to encourage investment (Al Jazeera).

Rs83.3bn in Pakistan federal spending ‘unaccounted for'

As much as 83.3bn rupees spent during the nine-month tenure of former prime minister Raja Pervez Ashraf are unaccounted for, revealing serious flaws in the reporting and accounting system used by the government (Pakistan Today).

Kabul rejects report that it levied $1bn in taxes on contractors

The Afghan finance minister has rejected a report by a US government watchdog that Kabul has levied nearly $1bn in illegitimate taxes on contractors working on US-funded reconstruction projects (Radio Free Afghanistan).

Malaysia growth over 5% in longest run since 2008

Malaysia’s growth probably exceeded 5% for a seventh straight quarter, the longest stretch since the depth of the global financial crisis in 2008, with a pick-up in investment poised to add further momentum (Bloomberg).

Macau government criticised for ‘bloated' capital budget forecasts

The government should rein in departments that make excessive forecasts of their capital spending because they are preventing the fiscal reserve from putting the money budgeted to better use, according to Legislative Assembly vice-president Ho Iat Seng (Macau Business Daily).