Noticias
16 January - Call for Urgent Reform of Concessional Lending Conditions
A report published by Eurodad urges for a comprehensive review of the reporting DAC system which allows concessionality to be assessed as ODA. It highlights a growing trend among EU donor states who try to meet their aid commitments while making a profit with high interest loans to developing countries. The paper discusses the main developments in the concessionality debate over the past decade and proposes recommendations on how to optimise the developmental benefits of this reform.
9 December - A Taxing Business: Financing Education For All Through Domestic Resources
The Global Campaign for Education has used some data from the GSW initiative as a resource for its recent report A Taxing Business: Financing Education For All Through Domestic Resources . It identifies four major steps towards achieving increased domestic resources, primarily through improved taxation and revenue-generation from natural resources, and highlights the vast impact this could make on ensuring quality, public education for all.
26 November - GSW Launch Event in Brussels
The GSW website and database were launched in Brussels at an event held during the European Development Days. On the panel, DFI Director Matthew Martin began by detailing some of the key findings from the 2013 GSW report, as well as showcasing the GSW website and database, and after which he outlined some of the key steps moving forward for the initiative. Natalia Alonso, Head of Oxfam’s EU Advocacy office, briefed the audience on the campaigning work done by Oxfam surrounding government finance, before Patrice Sanon, Founder and Executive Director ODSAD (Burkina Faso) emphasised the importance of the website, and the crucial need to have up to date data to be able to successfully hold Governments to account. The panel discussion was then followed by a lively debate with many in the audience commending the initiative, as well as being eager to discuss its next steps. The full audio of the event is available here, along with additional pictures.
25 November - World Development Report 2014
The World Bank’s World Development Report 2014: risk and opportunity – managing risk for development - argues that poor risk management reduces the chances of ending poverty and boosting shared prosperity, and demonstrates that an ability to manage risk can significantly contribute to development by saving lives, averting economic losses, creating opportunities, and helping people build better, more secure futures. The Overseas Development Institute held the UK launch of the report and you can watch the video and download the World Bank’s presentation here.
22 November - African Central Government Debt Statistical Yearbook 2013
The OECD has published the 2013 edition of the Central Government Debt Statistical Yearbook. An analytical tool primarily for debt managers, this latest installment provides improved quantitative statistics on African central government debt issuance, as well as bilateral, multilateral and concessional. It is envisaged that future editions will include general government debt. Countries included in this fourth edition are Angola, Cameroon, Gabon, Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Morocco, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Tanzania, Tunisia, Uganda and Zambia.
