March 28, 2024
 
 
 

Latest News

Tuesday, 10 October 2017 00:00

CRI Report CoverOxfam America hosted a Washington roundtable on the CRII, focusing on findings relating to the USA as well as broader findings for developing and developed countries. DFI presented key findings, especially the negative impact of planned Trump administration tax, spending and labour policies on the US position in the index. Approximately 30 senior experts on US and global policy attended and made excellent suggestions for improving the next round of the Index, as well as for applying it at a state-by-state level in the United States, and for maximising the policy impact of the Index in a US context.

 
Thursday, 21 September 2017 00:00

logo-IPSThe USA’s withdrawal from the Paris Accord has made climate change mitigation for developing countries even more uncertain, according to an article by two professors of economics published by the Inter Press Service. Of the USD$ 100 billion pledged by the international community to fund the Green Climate Fund (GCF), only just over USD$10 billion have been disbursed and it is unlikely the US will contribute the remainder USD2 billion of its USD$3 billion pledge.
 
The authors also claim that the USD$ 100 billion for the Green Climate Fund (CVF) won’t be enough to finance rapid transition to renewable energy and that much more climate finance and international cooperation will be needed to help countries, especially the vulnerable developing nations. They single out two solutions proposed by the Climate Vulnerable Forum and the UN which could help mobilise more finance: Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) and quantitative easing (QE).

 
 
 
Monday, 18 September 2017 00:00

Global Deal LogoThe DFI/Oxfam Commitment to Reducing Inequality Index featured at the High-Level Follow-Up Meeting at the UN General Assembly for the Global Deal, the initiative launched by the Government of Sweden in 2016 to promote Social Dialogue as a means of reducing inequality.

Oxfam International’s Executive Director Winnie Byanyima spoke about the huge need to enhance social dialogue given that the CRI Index showed how most governments are doing very little to fight inequality. Bilateral meetings also confirmed the enthusiasm of the Swedish government to host a CRI launch soon.

A video of the event is available to view here.  

 
 
 
Friday, 04 August 2017 00:00

caucusOn behalf of the Organisation internationale de la Francophonie, DFI participated in the African Caucus of Governors of the IMF and World Bank, held in Gaborone, Botswana on 4-5 August. The theme of the Caucus meeting was Economic Transformation and Job Creation: A Focus on Agriculture and Agribusiness, and DFI presented on a panel about Fiscal Policy to Support Agriculture Transformation. The DFI presentation focused on public expenditure to support agricultural development, tax policy to promote agricultural development and financing agricultural development through debt and PPPs. 

 
 
 

CRI Report CoverToday, at a roundtable in New York alongside the UN HLPF, DFI and Oxfam are launching the Commitment to Reducing Inequality index (CRI), a new global index which ranks 152 governments on their policies in three areas critical to reducing the gap between rich and poor: social spending, progressive taxation and labour rights. The report finds that no government in the world is doing enough to reduce inequality, and 112 of 152 are doing less than half of what they could. Sweden tops the index and Nigeria is bottom. Many low- and middle-income countries like Namibia and Liberia do well overall and on specific policy areas.

These conclusions are based on the latest available data from governments and global institutions, compiled by DFI into a comprehensive database, and validated by many Oxfam country offices, to build a unique perspective on the extent to which governments are tackling inequality. Full results and analysis can be consulted in the report and methodology document.

Read more...
 
 
 

Are The Multilateral Organisations Fighting Inequality Cover2At the same roundtable in New York, DFI, New Rules for Global Finance and the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung are also launching the report: Are The Multilateral Organisations Fighting Inequality?, which analyses the impact that the UN, IMF, OECD, World Bank, FSB and G20 are having on supporting countries across the world to fight inequality more effectively. The report scores and ranks each of the organisations for their impact across various policy transmission mechanisms, especially on tax, spending, labour and development financing policies. It finds that readiness and impact in fighting inequality is greatest in the UN, especially through its support to countries provided by UNDP and specialised agencies such as the ILO, UNICEF, UNESCO, WHO and UN Women.

At the other end of the spectrum, the G20 has only focussed intermittently on inequality and has therefore achieved very little. The report has been compiled through a lengthy process of consultation with experts from within each institution and inputs from independent representatives of civil society organisations working on inequality issues, including the ITUC, Oxfam, SOAS, Finance Watch, the University of Laval and RTpay. You can now consult the executive summary.

Read more...
 
 
 
 
 

Honest account 2017According to new research, much more wealth is leaving Sub-Saharan Africa than is entering it. By calculating the movement of financial flows, the study reveals that the world’s most impoverished continent loses $203 billion through factors including tax avoidance, debt payments and resource extraction. Despite receiving resources such as loans, remittances and aid amounting to $161.6 billion, the continent’s annual net financial deficit is over $40 billion.

The report, published by a coalition of UK and African organisations, makes a series of recommendations as to how the system extracting wealth from Africa could be dismantled. Proposals include promoting economic policies that lead to equitable development, preventing companies with subsidiaries based in tax havens from operating in African countries, and transforming aid into a process that genuinely benefits Africa. 

 
 
 

international-budget-partnership-logoThe International Budget Partnership (IBP) has published a budget brief which explores good practices and lessons learned from monitoring government budgets and expenditure on the MDGs. The aim of this brief is to assist with monitoring, reporting, and accountability, in respect of the SDGs.

Featuring summaries of case studies from 11 countries, the brief presents findings from research by DFI in collaboration with IBP that draws on DFI’s Government Spending Watch (GSW) initiative, which monitored MDG-related spending across 72 developing countries. The research looked at budget transparency practices, the relative ease of identifying MDG, budget classification and presentation for both planned and actual spending.

To support this brief, DFI produced a background paper prepared for IBP which aims to establish lessons to inform advocacy efforts to promote greater budget transparency and accountability in the SDGs implementation framework.

 
 
 

DMFDRI participated in the World Bank Debt Management Facility Stakeholder Forum in Vienna, taking part in the ICG governance meeting of the facility, and making a presentation on Debt Sustainability Status and Prospects in the Forum itself. The presentation, reported on the uses by countries of the LIC DSF template, on debt sustainability issues and reviewed the main conclusion of a study undertaken by DRI for DFID and the AfDB. 

 
 
 

World BankAn article published on the Interpress News Service Agency delves into the details of the World Bank’s Doing Business in an attempt to lift the veil on what underpins the ranking and reveal its pitfalls.

The authors find, among other things, that countries promoting lower corporate tax and more exemptions are ranked more favourably than others, therefore encouraging harmful tax competition among developing countries. They call for the World Bank to focus efforts on assisting developing countries in improve tax administration to enhance collection and compliance, and to reduce evasion and avoidance. 

 
 
 
<< Start < Prev 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Next > End >>
Page 6 of 44

Sign Up E-Newsletter

French
Portuguese
Spanish
English

Where We Work

wherwwework_map_small