“Consensus” emerges ahead of vote on global tax cooperation
21/9/2023: A debate at the UN General Assembly has taken a step towards a vote on establishing a UN tax convention, heralded as the best chance to avert losing nearly $5 trillion to tax havens over the next decade. Notably silent on the matter were the US, EU and the UK.
Source: Tax Justice Network
Nigeria’s economic reforms fail to protect vulnerable citizens
28/7/2023: In May the Nigerian government discontinued fuel subsidies, an action long recommended by economic advisers. In the first month after the subsidy was cut, the government saved $530 million but the poorest are struggling to cope with rising prices.
Source: Devex
Africa must own the idea of the “just transition”
4/7/2023: The just transition towards a sustainable planet is a universal agenda with localised practice. Among richer countries the concept centres on moving away from fossil fuels. But for most of Africa the idea will mean something very different.
Source: African Arguments
Frustration and tentative progress at Macron summit
23/6/2023: No major breakthrough has been achieved at the gathering of world leaders to pursue the idea of a New Global Financial Pact, sponsored by President Macron. Grievances aired by poorer countries at times appeared to dwarf the solutions on offer by the richer.
Source: Devex News
Why low-income nations are cracking under debt pressure
6/6/2023: Debt interest payments for the world’s poorest 28 nations have doubled over the last decade, according to World Bank data. The Bank is calling for creditors from the Group of 20 major economies to offer debt relief to these countries.
Source: Devex
G7 owes huge $13 trillion debt to Global South
17/5/2023: Wealthy Group of Seven countries owe low- and middle-income countries $13.3 trillion in unpaid aid and funding for climate action, according to new analysis from Oxfam ahead of the G7 Summit. Despite failing to pay what they owe, G7 countries and their rich bankers are demanding that Global South countries pay $232 million a day in debt repayments.
Source: Oxfam International
Ukraine war triggers fall in aid for Africa
13/4/2023: Aid budgets spent by wealthy countries on hosting refugees at home and helping Ukraine has soared, while bilateral support to Africa and least-developed countries decreased. Led by Oxfam, NGOs have expressed alarm at preliminary data released by OECD.
Source: Devex
Nearly one-third of 2022 UK aid spent on refugees at home
29/3/2023: The UK government gave its Home Office a “blank cheque” to spend on refugees in the country’s fractured asylum system, according to an independent watchdog’s report. This made it impossible for officials to plan an aid strategy, causing major disruption to international development.
Source: Devex
SDG stimulus could unlock $148 billion in debt savings
22/2/2023: 52 low and middle-income developing economies are either in debt distress or at high risk of debt distress, together accounting for more than 40% of the world’s poorest people. A new UN plan proposes to save up to $148 billion in debt service payments through a 30% cut in public external debt.
Source: UN News
Will China help resolve lower-income countries’ debt crisis?
8/2/2023: It is by now clear that many low- and middle-income countries will have to restructure their debt. This situation is quite unlike the debt crisis of the 1980s, now involving a multitude of creditor groups, including China, which is the newest and largest entity, with the least experience of debt relief.
Source: Devex