DFI (with Eurodad and Development Initiatives) produced a report for the European Parliament on “Financing for Development post-2015: Improving the Contribution of Private Finance”. The report underlines that official finance remains more important for low-income and vulnerable countries, due to large private finance outflows. Public finance is also more predictable, counter-cyclical and targetable at development goals. It catalogues major problems in using official finance to leverage private finance, including lack of additionality, transparency and ownership by governments and citizens, and poor evidence of development impact. It recommends that the EU focus instead on investing public finance in public services which promote investment (education, health and infrastructure), on changing policies such as investment and trade treaties which encourage tax evasion, and on supporting fair debt workout procedures and responsible private financing standards to maximise development impact. More information is available in this blogpost by Development Initiatives. 

DFI moderated a panel on lessons from the experience of a health sector PPP in Lesotho, based on a study from Oxfam. Experts from Oxfam, the Lesotho Consumer Protection Association and IFC exchanged views, agreeing that PPPs are a high cost and high risk option for financing, best used in conditions where private sector expertise is worth the extra cost, and that it would be desirable to review the Lesotho contract. To read the Oxfam report, click here. 

DFI provided technical support for the OIF Ministerial and Technical Meetings of the Finance Minister’s network on financing for development. The Ministerial Meeting focussed on discussion with the OECD of current plans to track “Total Official Development Support” and to change definitions of ODA concessionality and content. Ministers urged that aid should continue to flow to LDCs, LICs and LMICs with high levels of poverty and other needs, and that any definitions should encourage continued aid flows and be coherent with recent IMF concessionality definitions. They agreed to make further inputs to the OECD at technical and ministerial levels over the next six months. The technical meeting discussed current findings and next steps in a comprehensive study of how to increase tax revenue in Francophone LICs, with a particular emphasis on progressivity and reducing global tax evasion. 

DFI presented in a seminar at New Rules for Global Finance on how the G20, FSB, IMF, World Bank and tax governance institutions currently assess their impact. The seminar was well-attended by senior officials from the institutions, and conducted a comprehensive review of the institutions’ impact assessment methods, which will feed into an improved impact assessment methodology for the 2014 Global Financial Governance and Impact Report (GFGIR). To read the 2013 GFGIR, click here. 

The first ever Global Financial Governance Impact Report, assessing the performance of the G20, IMF, World Bank, FSB and Tax-related bodies was launched in London at ODI on April 1st . It used GSW data and analysis to assess whether the IMF is delivering on increasing MDG-related spending in countries where it has programmes. For the full video of the event, see here. 

On 10th March 2014, the Cameroonian capital Yaoundé hosted a regional conference to discuss ways to leverage resources to finance infrastructure projects. The event gathered senior policymakers from the Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS), academia and private sector representatives, as well as experts from international institutions who reviewed types of financing available for infrastructure projects such as loans or PPPs. Details of this event organized by the IMF and Cameroon – agenda, presentations, speakers’ list – are available here, among which this presentation by the IMF’s Fiscal Affairs Department entitled Managing Fiscal Risks from Public-Private Partnerships. 

DFI took part in a World Bank-led DeMPA mission to Port-au-Prince. This mission focused on assessing Haiti's debt management in keeping with DeMPA methodology, in a context where public debt management has been transferred from the Budget department to the Treasury. This mission was an opportunity to highlight the urgent assistance needed in terms of the regulatory, institutional and organisational framework and to support a more dynamic management of the information system via a three-year reform plan.  

In recognition of the 5th anniversary of the G20 London Summit, the Overseas Development Institute, in cooperation with Development Finance International and New Rules for Global Finance, is hosting a public discussion on “Is Global Governance Fit for Purpose?” on Tuesday 1st April. The event will launch the Global Financial Governance and Impact Report published by New Rules in collaboration with ten additional organisations. This report assesses how well the G20, IMF, World Bank, FSB and global tax system are governed, and whether they are having the desired positive impact: have they achieved their goal and made global financial governance fit for purpose, so that it is having a positive impact on the world’s citizens? Find registration and more information about the event here.

Education related country budget and expenditure data contained in the joint DFI/Oxfam 2013 Report and the GSW database contributed to the work of analysis for the latest installment of the Education For All Global Monitoring Report published by UNESCO. The 2013/2014 report provides an update on the six Education For All goals, presents evidence that progress in education is vital for achieving post-2015 development goals and highlights the importance of strong policies to unlock the potential of teachers to help them face the global learning crisis. A summary of the UNESCO report is also available here as well as other related information. 

Christian Aid and Tax Justice Network Africa have released “Africa Rising? Inequalities and the essential role of fair taxation”, a report which explores the link between tax policy and inequality. Focusing on 8 African countries (Kenya, Ghana, Sierra Leone, Nigeria, Zambia, Malawi, Zimbabwe and South Africa), the report reveals that despite a robust growth rate and some positive progress in essential services such as health and education in recent years, income inequality in sub-Saharan Africa is set to worsen without a strong set of tax policy reforms at national and global level. To address this issue, the paper makes four recommendations: (i) at a national level, sub-Saharan African Governments should focus on raising tax revenues; (ii) a pan-African coordination of tax policies among sub-Saharan Governments and enhanced regional cooperation and information sharing; (iii) global reforms where the international community tackles financial secrecy and tax havens; and (iv) optimise the opportunity of the new post-2015 framework replacing the MDGs by ensuring that fairer taxation is at the core of the new forthcoming system of targets and indicators.