March 28, 2024
 
 
 

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Tuesday, 11 October 2022 00:00

DRI and Oxfam launched the 2022 Commitment to Reducing Inequality (CRI) report, the first detailed analysis of 161 governments’ actions to fight inequality during COVID-19. COVID has increased inequality worldwide, with the poorest hit hardest by the disease and its economic impacts. CRI 2022 shows clearly that most of the world’s governments failed to mitigate this dangerous rise in inequality. Half of lower-income countries saw health spending fall as a % of their budgets, half of countries cut the % of social protection spending, three quarters cut the % of education spending. In addition, two-thirds failed to increase minimum wages in line with GDP, and 95% failed to increase taxes on the richest people and corporations. Only a small group of governments bucked this trend, taking clear actions to combat inequality, putting the rest of the world to shame. For the English report and database, see here. For other language versions of the report, here.

 
Friday, 11 June 2021 00:00

World BankDFI has renewed its partnership with the World Bank and IMF to implement the Debt Management Facility, which began in 2008. The DMF provides advisory services, training and peer-to-peer learning to more than 80 developing countries around the world to strengthen their debt management capacity, processes, and institutions. DFI participates in workshops and missions to support the implementation of the programme, on such issues as Debt Management Performance Assessments (DeMPA), Debt Sustainability Analysis, Medium-Term Debt Strategies, design of Debt Management Reform Plans, and development of domestic debt markets. Since 2008, DFI has participated in more than 73 missions and workshops. For more details, see the DMF website.

 
 
 
Wednesday, 28 October 2020 00:00

2022 CRI Front PageDFI and Oxfam International launched the third edition of the CRI, measuring government commitment to policies which reduce inequality. The key findings of the report are that the COVID-19 pandemic has swept across a world unprepared to fight it, because countries failed to fight inequality. Only one in six countries are spending enough on health, only a third of the global workforce has adequate social protection, and in over 100 countries one in three workers had no labour protection. As a result, many have faced death and destitution, and inequality is increasing dramatically. The report recommends that all governments adopt strong anti-inequality policies on public services, tax and labour rights, to radically reduce the gap between rich and poor. The international community must support them with SDRs, debt relief and global solidarity taxes.

 
 
 
Thursday, 02 January 2020 00:00

RwandaSenior Officials of 12 OIF LICs and LMICs and 4 regional organisations, as well as representatives of Francophone parliamentarians and civil society organisations, held a workshop in Kigali during 10-13 December to discuss their countries’ debt problems and identify urgent advocacy and capacity-building steps to reduce them. The workshop was hosted by the Government of Rwanda, and facilitated by DFI and OIF, with inputs from Afrodad, Cleary Gottlieb, the Commonwealth Secretariat, Eurodad, the IMF, UNCTAD, and the World Bank.  The workshop identified the top priority needs of countries on designing debt policies and strategies; transparency and accountability; mobilising new external finance; domestic and regional market borrowing; and debt restructuring and renegotiation. These needs will be communicated to all participating organisations at a senior level to ensure Francophone countries benefit from the maximum assistance. Participants also agreed on a series of advocacy points about changes needed in the international system to help them avoid or resolve debt crisis, which will be discussed with global leaders during 2020.

 
 
 
Thursday, 02 January 2020 12:17

netherlands-flag-smallDFI and Oxfam met in the Hague to agree a three-year work programme for the Commitment to Reducing Inequality Index, to produce the deliverables needed under the Open Society Foundation grant and as part of their joint partnership. We discussed improving and broadening the methodology to compile and analyse the CRII; as well as key performance indicators at the global, regional and national level, and improvements in communications and fundraising efforts. The outcomes from the meeting will be compiled into a strategic plan early in 2020.

 
 
 
Thursday, 02 January 2020 12:38

UNCTADDFI presented on a panel on How to Do Debt Relief Better at the UNCTAD Debt Management conference in Geneva on 19 November. The presentation covered two key issues: why more debt relief is needed; and how to do it better than in the past. DFI urged that debt relief should build on the principles established by the HIPC initiative, but also: be based on SDG funding needs; comprehensively include all types of creditors (including bondholders, China, PPP funders and domestic creditors); and occur more rapidly and with less conditionality. To read the presentation, click here.

 
 
 
Thursday, 02 January 2020 13:06

OIFMinisters of Finance of OIF LICs and LMICs, meeting in Washington DC on 17 October under the joint chairmanship of Madagascar, Benin, and Rwanda, discussed their heavy debt burdens with senior officials of the IMF, World Bank, UNCTAD and Paris Club. In a subsequent press conference, they demanded urgent measures to prevent a widespread new debt crisis, including increasing flows of concessional funds, enhancing their capacity to design higher-return projects, increased transparency on lending terms by the international community, making more use of contingent loans and guarantees to reduce debt service costs, and reinstating a HIPC++ framework to provide coordinated, comprehensive and rapid debt relief to countries to help finance the SDGs. To read a copy of the communique click here.

 
 
 
Thursday, 02 January 2020 13:15

ComsecDFI presented a report to Commonwealth Finance Ministers and Senior Officials on 16 October in Washington. The report analysed recent trends in debt of all Commonwealth countries, concluded that there is an urgent need to take measures to reduce the debt burden of Commonwealth Low and Middle-Income Countries and Small Island Developing States, and outlined a series of measures which could be taken. To read the report, click here.

 
 
 
Thursday, 02 January 2020 13:36

DFI was asked by the Pathfinders Grand Challenge on Inequality and Exclusion to present to Ministers of member states and leaders of other organisations on the key political and economic success stories of making taxation more progressive in recent years. The presentation covered success stories in making tax systems more progressive, solidarity contributions, leveling the playing field for all companies and individuals, fair taxation of unearned income and of wealth, and combating tax dodging and evasion. To access the presentation click here.

 
 
 
Thursday, 02 January 2020 13:44

Meridian LogoA mission staffed by a DFI consultant visited Cameroon to assist the government in beginning the migration of its database from CS-DRMS to the new Meridian debt management system. The mission trained Caisse Autonome d’Amortissement staff in how to validate their database and remove any errors from it before migration. Cameroon has an extremely large and complex database so this process is expected to take up to six months, after which another mission will go to Cameroon to complete the validation and migrate the database.

 
 
 
Thursday, 02 January 2020 13:58

Meridian LogoA mission by a DFI consultant visited Nigeria to assist the government in upgrading their CS-DRMS system from version 1.3 to version 2.3, in reconciling data between the two system versions to make sure version 2.3 could run smoothly, in configuring the system to fit their hardware and software needs, and in training Debt Management Office staff in how to use the new version of the system. The mission also migrated various Nigeria-specific customised debt strategy and transparency reports to the new version 2.3.

 
 
 
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