16 June - Inequality and Instability in the Sahel
On 16 June DFI completed a regional report for Oxfam based on the Commitment to Reducing Inequality Index, analysing the relationship between inequality and instability in the Sahel (Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Niger and Senegal). The report, Confronting Inequality and the Polycrisis in the Sahel: the Urgent Need for Progressive Policies analyses the growing inequality and instability in 2020-24. It finds that inequality is reducing growth by 5% a year, and being aggravated by high debt and defence spending, and austerity. High levels of informality and failure to enforce formal labour rights, leave the countries at the bottom worldwide for wage inequality. They are spending far less than needed to reach the SDGs on education, health and social protection; and though their tax systems look progressive on paper, they depend far too much on collecting regressive VAT – so their fiscal systems do little to reverse wage inequality. The report urges increases in collection of progressive income and wealth taxes, as well as debt relief, to reduce inequality and instability, and reduce pressures for international migration.
