Noticias
18 May - DFI Completes Technical Assistance in DRC
Kinshasa welcomed the last mission of the technical assistance project supporting DRC in reforming its debt management laws and design a national debt strategy. Held on 4-29 April, this mission closed an extensive African Development Bank-funded programme of activities started in September 2015.
Launched with a first mission to evaluate the country’s institutional framework and agree on a work plan, the technical support stretched over 8 missions and over 8 months to produce the following results:
2 May - Tax Inspectors Without Borders Webinar
Tax Inspectors Without Borders, a joint OCDE/UNDP initiative, held a webinar in May 2016. Launched in July 2015 in Addis Ababa, the project aims at transferring tax audit knowledge and skills to tax administrations in developing countries, working on real cases. In keeping with a practical learning approach, experts work with local officials from tax administrations on current audits and on issues concerning international tax audits.
14-15 April - Francophone Finance Ministers and Experts Meet in Washington, DC
The Network of Finance Ministers and Experts from Francophone LICs met in Washington, DC in the margins of the Spring Meetings of the IMF and the World Bank. Convened by Senegal, the Network's chair country, the meetings were twofold: finance experts and country focal points met on Thursday 14 April to discuss their priorities in terms of fiscal policies in favour of the mobilisation of domestic resources to finance the SDGs. On the agenda were the presentation of the results of the technical workshop held in Dakar, Senegal, in December 2015 on fiscal policies and preliminary outcomes of the revenue study. DFI also introduced the terms of reference of a new study on public-private partnerships (PPP) to be launched in 2016-2017 which will draw on countries' experiences to determine how PPPs can best fit in in their financing strategies.
9-18 March - MTDS Mission to Togo
DFI, together with UNCTAD, conducted a technical assistance mission in debt management for the World Bank. Held in the capital Lomé, this capacity-building event aimed at identifying key strengths and weaknesses which characterise the country’s debt structure. The mission found that Togo achieved considerable progress in terms of formulating debt management strategies and in debt sustainability analysis. However, significant weaknesses were identified at the front and back office level, which calls for strong support from the country’s technical and financial partners.
7 March - ActionAid’s New Report on Tax Treaties
The world’s poorest countries are robbed of billions of dollars in vital revenue due to tax avoidance strategies used by some multinational corporations.
ActionAid’s new "Mistreated" report is based on a dataset of 500 tax treaties signed by low- and lower-middle income countries in sub-Saharan Africa and Asia. This extensive research sheds lights on the tax agreements between LICs and wealthier countries and reveals the use of tax treaty networks to limit tax payments in LICs, therefore reducing the amount of crucial revenue as a vital source of public finance.
The report urges for the urgent review of these treaties, more transparency in the negotiation and ratification process as well as better impact assessment on revenue collection and development.
