The New Debt Trap Report
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- Written by Jubilee Debt Campaign
- Category: Articles
New report on how the response to the last global financial crisis has laid the ground for the next.
And on how some countries, like France are building up debts and others, such as Germany, are building up surpluses...
Why the North is shying away from global cooperation on tax
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- Written by Wolfgang Obenland/Global Policy Forum
- Category: Articles
One of the more contested issues at the 3rd International Conference on Financing for Development currently underway in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia is how to improve/ensure global cooperation in tax matters. During preparatory negotiations in New York, a proposal surfaced that would upgrade a UN expert committee on the issue into a fullfledged political, and more importantly universal, commission. The commission could deal with issues like fighting tax evasion and avoidance, could set standards for double taxation agreements and for how to deal with transnational corporations. This proposal, however was rejected with force by most OECD governments.
Read more: Why the North is shying away from global cooperation on tax
Scale Up Innovative Financing for Development
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- Written by Jomo Kwame Sundaram / IPS
- Category: Articles
More than four decades ago, the richer members of the international community committed to deliver at least 0.7 percent of their respective national incomes as official development assistance.
Sadly, less than half a dozen smaller countries have actually met this goal. Furthermore, ODA disbursements have not been stable, reliable or reflective of need, with continuing doubts about development effectiveness.
An action plan without much action
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- Written by Barbara Adams and Gretchen Luchsinger/Social Watch
- Category: Articles
With pens still hovering over the Addis Ababa Action Plan, the outcome agreement for the Third International Conference on Financing for Development (FfD3), there is already a sense that for all the recent talk at the UN about ambition and transformation, it is falling short. For a financing document, the Action Plan includes an impressive number of references to issues at the core of sustainable and inclusive development, like social protection, essential services, decent work for all and sustainable industrialization. There are multiple references to consumption and production, a rebalancing of which, among the rich and the poor, will determine the future of our world.
Greek debt crisis shows why we need international financial reform
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- Written by Bodo Ellmers / Eurodad
- Category: Articles
As the modern day Greek tragedy reaches its climax, the global debt justice movement has launched a major campaign calling for a resolution that would avoid disaster.
The call is for debt cancellation for Greece, but it goes much further, asking for a European debt conference and the creation of fair United Nations rules to solve future debt crises wherever they may occur. And this call has already been answered by more than 12,000 people in less than a week.
Read more: Greek debt crisis shows why we need international financial reform
Illicit flows in the poorest of countries
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- Written by Léonce Ndikumana
- Category: Articles
How Africa can overcome being marginalised in the global economy
From Addis Abeba to New York
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- Written by VENRO
- Category: Articles
Interesting report from German development NGO on the Financing for Development process loinked to the post-2015 development agenda
Corporate tax deals rob poor countries of teachers and nurses
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- Written by Martha Khonje / The Guardian
- Category: Articles
According to recent figures from the World Bank, my country Malawi is the poorest country in the world. People here live to an average age of 55 and there are high rates of Aids/HIV infection. Our health service is threadbare, with a great shortage of nurses and doctors and our schools need teachers. The country desperately requires investment in public services, including health and education programmes.
However, this does not mean there is no hope. Far from it. One of the solutions to this problem is to increase government income through taxation. Although Malawi is poor, the country has natural resources that are hugely valuable. In theory, by allowing large companies to mine these resources and then tax those operations, our government could raise millions of dollars of revenue.
Read more: Corporate tax deals rob poor countries of teachers and nurses
Finland's aid cuts and the EU credibility crisis
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- Written by Nina Mäki, NGO Platform
- Category: Articles
Just as the EU is trumpeting its continuing commitment to development cooperation, it is being undermined. And by one of its most reliable members, Finland, which has announced it will cut its aid budget by almost half.
On May 26 the EU reaffirmed its collective commitment to dedicate 0.7% of gross national income (GNI) to Official Development Assistance (ODA) when it published its position ahead of next month’s Financing for Development Summit. The Finnish decision to make 43% of cuts from development cooperation funds just two weeks later (reducing its ODA contribution to 0.35% GNI) could not have come at a worse time. It is a serious blow to the EU’s credibility in a year when several major summits will decide the future of international development.
Global Financing Facility: a model for financing the SDGs?
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- Written by Jens Martens
- Category: Articles
While negotiations on Financing for Development and the means of implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) within the UN are deadlocked, a new Global Financing Facility (GFF) in support of Every Woman Every Child is going to be established outside of the UN. The creation of the GFF was initiated by the World Bank and the governments of Canada, Norway, and the United States, and announced at the UN General Assembly in September 2014. It will be officially launched in July 2015, at the third Financing for Development Conference in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
Read more: Global Financing Facility: a model for financing the SDGs?
Should countries cooperate on taxes at the UN?
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- Written by Marta Batalla/Social Watch
- Category: Articles
Globalization has changed the rules of the game regarding tax systems. Seeking ways to increase their profits, multinational corporations take advantage of regulatory gaps and the public sector is always one step behind, trying to close loopholes.
In order to allow for fair taxation, more than good will is needed. The current UN debates on Financing for Development (FFD) and the new sustainable development agenda cannot avoid the issue of where resources will come from and the reform of the international corporate taxation system is one of the biggest demands from civil society.
