Development Finance International
4 July - Role of Parliaments in Accountability for Aid Results, Westminster
DFI spoke at the Houses of Parliament in a session of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA UK) conference entitled “Parliamentary Financial Oversight of Aid Effectiveness”. The event gathered parliamentarians from all Commonwealth countries to discuss the role of Parliaments in holding developing countries’ governments and donors accountable for results from aid.
The presentation highlighted the progress made by some developing countries in building accountability through aid policies and capacity-building support to parliaments, but also suggested that further progress will be difficult because donor support for aid effectiveness has waned. It was based on a background study written for the Inter-Parliamentary Union available here.
30 June - 1 July - OECD Launches Inclusive Framework to Implement BEPS
On 30 June -1 July, Kyoto welcomed the inaugural meeting of the ‘inclusive framework’, a new body allowing interested countries and jurisdictions to implement Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) measures in a harmonised manner.
Under the auspices of the OECD’s Committee on Fiscal Affairs, the event gathered representatives of more than 80 countries at various stages of development and of international organisations and regional fiscal bodies. Their work focused on the manners in which to implement the measures which came out of the OECD’s BEPS Project, and which were endorsed in November 2015 by the G20 leaders at the Antalya Summit.
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30 June - Advisory Panel on Social Spending in IMF Programmes
DFI took part in the first meeting of a civil society advisory panel on Social Spending in IMF Programmes, which will input into the redesign of IMF conditionality related to social spending.
IMF staff and panelists discussed the scope of the review, including the sectors to be covered, the need to take account of broader IMF work on inequality and therefore to look at comprehensive education, health and social protection coverage, and the successes and failures of existing conditionalities such as indicative social spending floors. They also contributed ideas on existing analysis including the GSW reports and database, as well as names of other experts for the reviewers to contact. Further meetings will be held, culminating in a public discussion at the BWI Annual Meetings in October.
20-21 June - Commonwealth International Tax Roundtable, London
DFI chaired a session at a Commonwealth meeting on “Perspectives on the Panama Papers”, looking at the current efforts being made to combat illicit financial flows by sharing information among countries and citizens. Panelists debated the role of “tax havens” in developed and developing countries and discussed a series of measures which small island developing states and UK crown dependencies in particular could take to contribute to global tax transparency and accountability. The outcome statement from the event is available here.
To coincide with the seminar, the Commonwealth published this report on the impact of anti-money laundering and counter terrorist financing (AML/CFT) regulations in Commonwealth Developing Countries.
15 June - Jubilee Debt Campaign Advisory Network, London
DRI participated in the first meeting of the Jubilee Debt Campaign Academic Advisory Network. Participants exchanged information on their latest studies of debt issues ranging from analysis of the debt crisis and negotiations in Greece, through to latest analysis of debt sustainability in developing countries, the role of PPPs, and the impact of the Argentine vulture funds’ decisions on future debt resolution mechanisms. DRI highlighted its recent work on debt sustainability and its forthcoming work on productive spending and debt.
