The conclusion of the ongoing negotiations for the post-2025 climate goal is top of the agenda at COP29 this week in Baku, Azerbaijan. Civil society is calling on global north leaders to deliver a binding commitment, strive to re-establish trust, and recognise the owed climate debt to the global south.

On the eightieth anniversary of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, it is time for a change of course. In this blog, our experts on the Bretton Woods Institutions explain why the world is in urgent need of more responsive, democratic, accountable and development-orientated. global economic governance. 

A new book “Feminism in Public Debt: A Human Rights Approach” delves into the intricate connections between debt, gender, and human rights, with a spotlight on Latin American countries. 

Most climate finance for countries in the global south is in the form of loans that come with high-interest payments. This blog, written by Eurodad's Iolanda Fresnillo and Leia Achampong, outlines the impact of climate finance loans and why grants are essential to global south countries implementing robust climate measures.

Read the full article on Global Dev

Human rights, equity and climate justice must guide all COPs. These principles are needed more than ever at COP28.

Written by Shereen Talaat (MENA Fem), Iolanda Fresnillo and Leia Achampong (Eurodad)

Last week's Summit in Paris ended without tangible results. Eurodad's debt expert, Iolanda Fresnillo, argues in EU Observer that it is time to leave distractions like the New Global Financing Pact behind and focus on more serious processes, where all countries can participate on an equal footing. 

Read the piece in full on EU Observer

The UN Climate Conference (COP27) is currently taking place in Egypt. Tackling climate change requires a global effort; so it is crucial that the quality and quantity of international climate finance for countries in the global south is strengthened. Two key markers of success at COP27 are whether countries agree to a Loss and Damage Finance Facility, and whether the post-2025 climate finance goal will cover loss and damage.

The worsening debt crisis in developing countries calls for immediate debt cancellation and structural reforms, but the G20 is not willing to deliver. A truly multilateral and systemic response, that includes borrowing countries in the decision-making, is urgently needed.

On Thursday, the IMF published a blog on the problems facing the implementation of the G20 Common Framework (CF). This signals a victory for civil society campaigners – but is ultimately too little too late.

Eurodad experts analyse how COP26 failed to deliver on climate finance, loss and damage and adaptation.

Without a human rights-based alternative to austerity, many countries will find themselves trapped in a vicious cycle of self-defeating fiscal adjustments, instability and unsustainable debts.

Business as usual prevailed over the need for genuine reform during the Annual Meetings of the Bretton Woods Institutions earlier this month. This is the third of a three-blog series dealing with the Doing Business Report scandal, allocation of rich countries unused Special Drawing Rights and the debt crisis.

Business as usual prevailed over the need for genuine reform during the Annual Meetings of the Bretton Woods Institutions earlier this month. This is the first of a three-blog series dealing with the Doing Business Report scandal, allocation of rich countries unused Special Drawing Rights and the debt crisis.

Business as usual prevailed over the need for genuine reform during the Annual Meetings of the Bretton Woods Institutions earlier this month. This is the second of a three-blog series dealing with the Doing Business Report scandal, allocation of rich countries unused Special Drawing Rights and the debt crisis.

The 76th Session of the UN General Assembly (UNGA 76) 2021 concluded on September 27.

The UNGA includes the representatives of all 193 Member States and is in session every year between September and December. 

The remaining months of 2021 are crucial for the future of our humanity. The multiple and interrelated crises that we face call for an even greater level of unprecedented and truly multilateral action.

During the past year, the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, in partnership with the US asset management firm PIMCO, has advocated for the establishment of a Liquidity and Sustainability Facility (LSF). The LSF has been presented as a mechanism to support countries in Africa in the aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic. But which countries and investors really stand to benefit? 

We are at a crucial juncture. Global discussions on how to respond to low- and middle-income countries’ increasing debt burdens could lead us to a prolonged debt crisis in the global south, especially in Africa, or to game-changing debt architecture reform. The question is: What path will high-income countries choose?

The Covid-19 crisis threatens to erode two-decades' of progress on poverty reduction in Bangladesh. This difficult situation highlights the need for a more ambitious response to the crisis.

In this first part of our blog series on Covid-19 from a feminist perspective, we look at how the pandemic is impacting women and girls and deepening gender divides.

Read part two

While Covid-19 has had a limited impact on the health of Grenada's population, the economic impact of the virus has been devastating. 

Nepal has been caught in a blizzard of economic and health challenges caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. Like other countries in the global south, it has received insufficient and inadequate support to tackle these challenges. The consequences of the lack of international solidarity are being felt by the most vulnerable people across the country.

Faced with the crisis of the century, the G20 has failed to meet the demands of the moment. As the Saudi Arabian presidency comes to a close, Eurodad policy experts take a critical look at what has been delivered.

Ecuador está atravesando una crisis sanitaria y humanitaria como resultado del Covid-19. En este blog se analiza las implicaciones de la pandemia, la crisis de deuda en Ecuador y la iniciativa DSSI.

Ecuador is experiencing a health and humanitarian crisis as a result of Covid-19. This blog explores the implications of the pandemic, Ecuador's debt crisis and the DSSI initiative. 

Covid-19 has left Kenya in a precarious position. A large debt burden and the impact of the pandemic are eroding all the gains made in the fight against poverty over the last few decades.

This two-part blog series will provide an analysis of the possible structure of the G20 “Common Framework for Debt Treatments beyond the DSSI”. Part I describes the likely structure of the framework. Part II analyses why a Paris Club-based approach to the Common Framework is unlikely to succeed.

This two-part blog series will provide an analysis of the possible structure of the G20 “Common Framework for Debt Treatments beyond the DSSI”. Part I describes the likely structure of the framework. Part II analyses why a Paris Club-based approach to the Common Framework is unlikely to succeed.

The Philippines has been in a vulnerable position since the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic. This vulnerability can be explained by social, economic, health and financial factors. As a result of these pre-existing conditions, the crisis has been acutely felt by the population of the country. 

The pandemic has had a devastating impact on the living conditions of the population of Zambia. Debt relief with private creditor participation is required now to ensure the country can boost its Covid-19 response and support a sustainable recovery.

The indicators of a severe debt crisis were already present in Pakistan long before the Covid-19 crisis hit. Coordinated efforts by CSOs all round the world are needed to ensure that countries like Pakistan are not left alone dealing with its impact.

This weekend, G20 Finance Ministers passed up the chance to scale up debt relief to developing countries, demonstrating a galling lack of urgency in the face of the debt crisis engulfing a pandemic-stricken globe. Worse still, their approach risks making a bad situation worse.

Piling on more debt on to the shoulders of developing countries will not help them recover from the Covid-19 crisis, write Isabelle Brachet and Maria Jose Romero.

Argentina continues to struggle with recession and a mounting debt crisis. The country has been on selective default for a few months, and is battling to avoid a broader default.

This second part of our two-part blog series provides an assessment of the G20 Debt Service Suspension Initiative announced last week. Part I analyses the impact of the proposal on fiscal responses to Covid-19. Part II places the initiative in the context of the broader economic costs of the crisis for developing countries.

This blog series of two parts will provide an assessment of the G20 debt service suspension initiative announced last week. Part I analyses the impact of the proposal on fiscal responses to Covid-19. Part II places the initiative in the context of the broader economic costs of the crisis for developing countries. 

As the world grapples with responding to the Covid-19 pandemic, this blog explores the key issues for countries in the global south.

On 13 April, the IMF announced an initiative to provide debt relief for a selected group of 25 countries. 

El costo humano y económico de la crisis causada por COVID-19 es un claro recordatorio de la fragilidad de nuestra sociedad globalizada.

The IMF and WB are calling on the G20 to support debt relief for impoverished countries in the face of the Covid-19 outbreak. But the institutions must break with the past to ensure debt relief fulfils its purpose.

This is a guest blog on behalf of the Arab NGO Network for Development (ANND) by Dr Hassan Sherry, Adjunct Lecturer, Department of Economics, Lebanese American University

This is the fourth part of a blog series covering the impact of Covid-19 on vulnerable countries in the global south. Part 1 analyses the impact of debt burdens on health services. Part 2 discusses how the economic crisis will affect countries in the global south. Part 3 highlights the degree of vulnerability of countries in the global south to the Covid-19 epidemic. Part 4 provides a discussion on policy responses to tackle the risks posed by the epidemic. 

This is the third part of a blog series covering the impact of Covid-19 on vulnerable countries in the global south. Part 1 analyses the impact of debt burdens on health services. Part 2 discusses how the economic crisis will affect countires in the global south. Part 3 highlights the degree of vulnerability of countries in the global south to the Covid-19 epidemic. Part 4 provides a discussion on policy responses to tackle the risks posed by the epidemic.

This is the second part of a blog series covering the impact of Covid-19 on vulnerable countries in the global south. Part 1 analyses the impact of debt burdens on health services. Part 2 discusses how the economic crisis will affect countries in the global south. Part 3 highlights the degree of vulnerability of countries in the global south to the Covid-19 epidemic. Part 4 provides a discussion on policy responses to tackle the risks posed by the epidemic.

This is the first part of a blog series covering the impact of Covid-19 on vulnerable countries in the global south. Part 1 analyses the impact of debt burdens on health services. Part 2 discusses how the economic crisis will affect countires in the global south. Part 3 highlights the degree of vulnerability of countries in the global south to the Covid-19 pandemic. Part 4 provides a discussion on policy responses to tackle the risks posed by the pandemic.

by Iolanda Fresnillo, Eurodad and Verónica Serafini, LATINDADD

This blog outlines the serious barriers women are facing due to the unfurling debt crisis in the global south. As debt payments increase, resources are diverted from public services investments and towards the outsourcing and privatisation of these services. This poses a threat to women’s rights and equality. CSOs across the world can help tackle this injustice, but, as this blog states, a greater gender focus for our actions is essential.

2020 starts the ten-year countdown for the successful implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals. It is also a critical period for a just response to climate change, ensuring that those who are the least responsible do not pay the greatest price.

On January 12 2010 an earthquake of magnitude 7.3 on the Richter scale ripped through Port-au-Prince metropolitan area and other parts of Haiti. More than 1.5 million people, representing 15 per cent of the country's population, were directly affected by the earthquake. According to the Haitian government, 316,000 people lost their lives. An estimated US$ 7.8 billion dollars of damage was caused - equivalent to more than 120 per cent of the GDP of 2009. Everyone in Haiti has a story that begins or ends on 12 January and many wounds remain open. Everyone lost someone. Everyone remembers where they were that day.

The new European Commission is sending a clear signal by tabling a “Green New Deal” within a month of its inception. But to be a true statement of intent rather than a mere public relations manoeuvre, it must speak to the urgency for action.  

The Bretton Woods Institutions were built on the ruins of an old world-order, at the end of World War II, and the dawn of a new world order, marked by the birth of many new nation-states and the onset of the cold-war. 

The debate about a Green New Deal has recently been reinvigorated in both sides of the Atlantic. In Europe, the Green New Deal is part of the priorities of the European Commission’s President-elect Ursula von der Leyen. And at the UN in New York last month, sustainable development was featured in a series of global Summits, including the Climate Action Summit. In response, UNCTAD used the momentum to  launch the 2019 edition of the Trade and Development Report (TDR) which analyses the new deal from a financing perspective, identifies constraints and outlines innovative financing options. 

Following the European elections in May, former German defence minister Ursula von der Leyen has assumed the role of President-elect of the European Commission. In July, von der Leyen, the first woman to take this post, released a concept paper titled “A Union that strives for more” and on Tuesday this week she unveiled the names of the new Commissioners.  And with these releases, the policy agenda of the next European Commission, mandated to govern until 2024, is slowly taking shape. In response, we ask what are the implications for development finance?   

As G20 leaders meet this weekend to debate the state of the global financial and economic system, there is no shortage of problems to discuss. 

The United Nations convened in New York last week for the Financing for Development Forum. While the outcome document has been negotiated in advance, the Forum itself offered lots of opportunities to discuss what change we need to finance the sustainable development goals. 

In a valuable step forward to support human rights compliant economic policy-making, the UN Human Rights Council (HRC) called on 21 March for governments and intergovernmental organisations to make use of new UN guidance when developing economic reforms.

Over the course of the week leading up to International Women's Day 2019 we released a series of graphics featuring the staff of Eurodad and their work areas, with quotes reflecting how Eurodad's work aims to promote gender equality. 

The European Commission has released a new Staff Working Document on Policy Coherence for Development (PCD). The Commission’s report covers the first three years of the EU’s attempts to implement the Sustainable Development Goals, an endeavour for which PCD is crucial. The document however unveils that the EU’s PCD framework, as complex as it might already be, continues to have severe omissions – in particular the complete neglect of the EU’s fiscal and monetary policies on sustainable development in and outside the EU. Moreover, while the Communication maps EU policies on taxation and investment, it sells some of those as positive contributions while it neglects the risks and negative impacts that EU policies in these areas have.

At the start of the New Year, the number of countries at high risk of debt distress is growing at an alarming rate. With so many crises already ongoing, and more expected to emerge over the next 12 months, it’s no surprise that the topic is high on the agenda of international organisations. But perhaps it’s not as high up as it should be in order to head off a looming crisis…

First in a two-part blog series 

When the global financial crisis broke, the world looked to the G20 to find solutions. But as G20 leaders recently gathered in Buenos Aires 10 years on for their 2018 Summit, it was all too clear that ‘too big to fail banks’ have grown even bigger while we’re stuck with a vastly expanded shadow banking industry and a very worrying new wave of debt crises. Even though the G20 consider themselves to be the world’s major body for economic policy coordination, they are sleepwalking into the next crisis.

“There are negotiations being made that are going to answer all of your questions and solve all of your problems. That’s all I can tell you right now.” So goes the line from The Godfather.

Debt problems continue to burden countries on both sides of the Atlantic. Argentina has just agreed the highest ever International Monetary Fund (IMF) loan and risk premiums for Italian bonds have surged. This is the backdrop for a new report by the Euro-Latin American Parliamentary Assembly (EuroLat – a forum that brings together 150 parliamentarians from the two regions). The report joins growing demands for better institutions to help prevent and resolve debt crises.

With the country still reeling from the devastation of the Sulawesi tsunami, Indonesia played host to the Annual Meetings of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank Group (WBG), in Bali last week. The sobriety of the moment was reflected in gloomy forecasts from the IMF, which issued stark warnings of debt and trade risks to global growth. Meanwhile, controversy surrounded the World Bank’s new Human Capital Index; the 2019 World Development Report; and the ‘private finance first’ approach at the core of the Bank’s Maximising Finance for Development. CSOs and academics raised their voices to shine a light on the risks that the policies of the Bretton Woods Institutions (BWIs) posed to human rights and sustainable development across the Global South. Eurodad presented new research on the harmful impacts of Public-Private Partnerships and on IMF loan conditionality, and facilitated dialogue on better creditor coordination to solve debt crises.

This article was initially published in Eurodad member SLUG's newsletter

Ten years ago, on 15 September 2008, the US investment bank Lehman Brothers collapsed. This collapse is largely seen as a key event of the North Atlantic financial crisis, which also had spillover effects on the rest of the world. Around the globe, this decade-long crisis has caused massive unemployment, as well as rising poverty and inequality. It has been used and abused to slash people’s rights – in particular the rights of workers – while the financial sector that caused the crisis has benefited from huge publicly funded bailouts. Ten years after the last crisis began, global debt levels are higher than before, and debt vulnerabilities are increasingly hard to manage. That’s why activists all over the world are standing up to call for fundamental reforms of the financial sector on 15 September 2018.

The G20 Finance Ministers of the world’s largest economies met in Buenos Aires last weekend, but their failure to tackle pressing global problems, including the threat of trade wars and a looming debt crisis, highlighted how ineffective the G20 has become.  Given that the G20 cannot tackle key issues, is promoting ineffective initiatives, and has largely become a rubber stamping body for other actors, the time is ripe to rethink how the global economy is governed, and to promote alternatives.

This article has also been published by Triple Crisis. 

Argentinians are experiencing deja-vu this month as the government announces massive layoffs and a hiring freeze as part of an adjustment package attached to a loan from the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Thousands of public servants are being forced yet again to swallow the bitter pill of austerity, which the IMF programme - published last Friday - aims to patch up through increased targeted social assistance.

On 2 July, the Development Assistance Committee of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD DAC) will decide whether to change the rules on how debt relief is reported as Official Development Assistance (ODA). There is a serious risk that these changes could create loopholes allowing donors that use debt-based instruments to inflate their aid levels at the expense of the poorest countries.

Eurozone finance ministers convened for a crucial Eurogroup session in Brussels on 21 June and agreed on a last-minute set of new debt reprofiling measures for Greece. The package of maturity extensions, interest deferrals and €15bn in new loans from the European Stability Mechanism (ESM) means that the Greek debt stock is likely to rise further in coming years.

In a landmark ruling on 31 May, the Belgian Constitutional Court upheld the country’s anti-vulture funds law, rejecting a legal challenge by a particularly notorious fund. NML Capital, an opaque vulture fund listed in the offshore financial centre of the Cayman Islands, had tried to shelve the Belgian law and intervene in democratic decision-making in Belgium. The ruling means the law remains in force, and agreements by the European Parliament and the United Nations imply that it is on the way to becoming an example for a worldwide solution to the challenges that vulture funds pose to the fair and speedy resolution of debt crises.

To date, there are no international institutions that are in a position to resolve debt crises in a fair, orderly and sustainable manner.

Vulture funds target crisis countries that are already struggling to finance public services and infrastructure. An initiative in Belgium positions the country as a pioneer in efforts to stop vulture funds.

One year ago, at the time of the Annual Meetings in Marrakech, WBG President Ajay Banga said “I don’t subscribe easily to buzzwords about how to do things”. This was in response to CSO concerns about the use of the ‘cascade approach’ to development – a phrase coined by the WBG seven years ago. In plainer English it means the WBG seeks to leverage private finance in support of development and climate projects. Today, ahead of the 2024 Annual Meetings, which mark the 80th anniversary of the institution, the World Bank Group says it aims “to create a future-ready World Bank Group.” This sounds like yet another buzzword to us.

Following the close of the Summit of the Future, a common belief and consistent narrative seem to be taking shape among civil society and other critical actors that has not yet been reflected within the official proceedings. That belief and narrative? That the current international aid architecture is failing and a new and transformative approach to how international development cooperation is governed at the global level is needed. The Fourth International Conference on Financing for Development (FfD4), taking place in Sevilla (Spain) next year, is a major opportunity to achieve that.

On the eightieth anniversary of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, it is time for a change of course. In this blog, our experts on the Bretton Woods Institutions explain why the world is in urgent need of more responsive, democratic, accountable and development-orientated. global economic governance. 

The OECD Development Assistance Committee (ODA) is conducting a review of its Recommendation on Untying ODA (Official Development Assistance, or aid). In this blog, our aid expert examines how wealthy countries are continuing to profit from both formal and informal tied aid. With one week to go until the publication of preliminary data from the OECD DAC outlining the ODA distributed by donor countries in 2023, this article shines a light on one of the practices that continues to call into question the integrity of aid. It also outlines five issues that must be addressed.

Blended finance took centre stage at COP28, with the Green Climate Fund among its supporters. But there are still major problems with the concept that must be addressed before considering any further expansion.

Read the full opinion piece on Climate Home News.

Last week’s rules set out by the OECD Development Assistance Committee to report private sector instruments provide more incentives for high-income countries to expand a private sector-oriented development agenda.

Read the full opinion piece on Devex

This blog analyses the World Bank’s 'Evolution Roadmap' and is written by Bhumika Muchhala, from the Third World Network and Eurodad's Maria Jose Romero.

Read the full opinion piece on IPS News

This blog unpacks last week's disappointing civil society dialogue with the OECD Development Assistance Committee.  

Last week's Summit in Paris ended without tangible results. Eurodad's debt expert, Iolanda Fresnillo, argues in EU Observer that it is time to leave distractions like the New Global Financing Pact behind and focus on more serious processes, where all countries can participate on an equal footing. 

Read the piece in full on EU Observer

The central driver of the World Bank's approach towards resolving the climate crisis places the  private sector as the key provider of finance and centres the WBG as a facilitator of the mobilisation of private capital. Given the Bank's record on climate, together with its plans for the future, such a scenario gives great cause for concern. Furthermore, while rich country governments - the main shareholders of the WBG - are pushing for a greater role of the WBG in climate action, they continue to fall behind on the U$S100 billion annual commitments on climate finance. 

Dr Farwa Sial, Senior Policy and Advocacy Officer at Eurodad, analyses the latest developments in the EU's Global Gateway.

This week's negotiations, and subsequent agreement, on new reporting rules are an opportunity for OECD Development Assistance Committee members to show they take their financial commitments towards the global south seriously.

Eurodad's questions ex-MasterCard chief Ajay Banga's nomination by the USA as their candidate for president of the World Bank Group. It is crucial that the next World Bank leader breaks with the past and has a vision for the future, but a Banga presidency will bring only more of the same. 

The rise of public-private partnerships (PPPs) has deeply affected the delivery of public services and infrastructure projects across the world. In this opinion piece, experts from Eurodad, Latindadd and APMDD highlight why we must move away from this failed model and promote public options to build a future that is public. 

By Océane Blavot (Eurodad), Rodolfo Bejarano (Latindadd), Mae Buenaventura (APMDD)

Read the full opinion piece on IPS News

Last month, the Global Partnership for Effective Development Cooperation (GPEDC) - a broad and high level association of governments and organisations tasked with ensuring development cooperation works - hosted its latest summit. The stakes could not have been higher as the world enters 2023.

The new Chair of the OECD’s Development Assistance Committee (DAC) is Denmark’s Carsten Staur – an experienced former Minister for International Development Co-operation – who will start his role in March 2023. In a world of overlapping crises, the stakes are too high to fail.

COP27 only delivered one part of the climate finance puzzle, namely a Loss and Damage Fund. Developed countries need to step up their efforts to repay the climate debt so all countries are able to pursue sustainable development.

The UN Climate Conference (COP27) is currently taking place in Egypt. Tackling climate change requires a global effort; so it is crucial that the quality and quantity of international climate finance for countries in the global south is strengthened. Two key markers of success at COP27 are whether countries agree to a Loss and Damage Finance Facility, and whether the post-2025 climate finance goal will cover loss and damage.

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s Development Assistance Committee is a group of donor countries that monitors development finance flows. Over the past 20 years it has periodically amended the rules for calculating official development assistance — most recently as part of the ODA modernisation process.

This blog was originally posted on the Global Partnership website here.

Ahead of the UN climate conference (COP27) - the first to take place in Africa for five years - European Union (EU) Foreign Ministers have published their 2022 Climate Diplomacy priorities. These priorities help us understand the level of EU ambition, and the direction the bloc will take in various negotiating spheres throughout the year.

On 1 January a new development branch of the European Investment Bank (EIB) went into operation. This was approved by the bank’s Board of Directors in September 2021, following relatively limited conversations on how to improve the European architecture for development. This branch aims to reorganise the EIB’s activities outside the European Union and enhance engagement with external partners through the provision of targeted strategies and services. 

As many countries welcomed in the new year they were also hit by Omicron, yet another even more infectious variant of the Coronavirus. The world is once again faced with the common challenge of dealing with a new turn in the pandemic.

Intended by the IMF as a means to redistribute rich countries’ unused Special Drawing Rights (SDRs), the current design of the Resilience and Sustainability Trust indicates that it is far from a magic bullet. Instead, it may reproduce the inequalities of the current system and award the IMF additional powers outside of its mandate.

The proposed increase in the International Development Association's much criticised private sector window ignores civil society's concerns that it lacks adequate safeguards and reporting mechanisms to ensure that this is the best use of IDA resources. In this blog, we set out the case for redirecting these resources towards public investment

Eurodad experts analyse how COP26 failed to deliver on climate finance, loss and damage and adaptation.

Shared principles and safeguards are urgently needed to prevent ODA budgets being artificially inflated by vaccine donations and to avoid unduly applauding donors for a behaviour that created and exacerbated a situation of vaccine inequality in the first place.

On 19-20 October, the 2021 Finance in Common Summit (FiC) brought together more than 500 Public Development Banks (PDBs) from around the world. Following the first FiC summit last year, this year’s summit was also focused on the role of PDBs in mobilising financial resources to achieve the 2030 Agenda and the Paris Agreement. Key themes of this year’s summit included the goal of transforming food systems, adaptation to climate change and the preservation of biodiversity.

Business as usual prevailed over the need for genuine reform during the Annual Meetings of the Bretton Woods Institutions earlier this month. This is the third of a three-blog series dealing with the Doing Business Report scandal, allocation of rich countries unused Special Drawing Rights and the debt crisis.

Business as usual prevailed over the need for genuine reform during the Annual Meetings of the Bretton Woods Institutions earlier this month. This is the first of a three-blog series dealing with the Doing Business Report scandal, allocation of rich countries unused Special Drawing Rights and the debt crisis.

Business as usual prevailed over the need for genuine reform during the Annual Meetings of the Bretton Woods Institutions earlier this month. This is the second of a three-blog series dealing with the Doing Business Report scandal, allocation of rich countries unused Special Drawing Rights and the debt crisis.

The Doing Business scandal brought the Bank's structural problems into the public eye, namely the weak independence and integrity of its research and the widespread conflict of interest in its policy advice.

Analysis of the 2019 Climate Finance data released by the OECD shows developed countries are still falling short of meeting the US$ 100 billion per year climate finance goal. 

The remaining months of 2021 are crucial for the future of our humanity. The multiple and interrelated crises that we face call for an even greater level of unprecedented and truly multilateral action.

As long as the World Bank's International Development Association can be an important source of recovery funds for the poorest economies, those resources must be used effectively. This will require closing the IDA's Private Sector Window and instead providing resources directly to governments.

This blog was originally published by Project Syndicate.

In the space of a few months, Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) - supplementary reserve assets created by the International Monetary Fund - have gone from being a topic for IMF geeks to the talk of the town. There are two main issues at stake.

This is the first blog in a series of blogs on SDRs.

During the past year, the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, in partnership with the US asset management firm PIMCO, has advocated for the establishment of a Liquidity and Sustainability Facility (LSF). The LSF has been presented as a mechanism to support countries in Africa in the aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic. But which countries and investors really stand to benefit? 

While G7 leaders argue that they "aim for a step change" in their approach to infrastructure financing, a market-led approach is still at the heart of the G7’s plan to "build back better" for the world. In the following blog, María José Romero, Farwa Sial and Flora Sonkin analyse the proposals, the risks and an alternative way of thinking about infrastructure.

The Summit on the Financing of African Economies convened by the French President, Emmanuel Macron last week was mostly a rhetorical exercise in supporting Africa’s post-pandemic recovery and resilience-building.

• The publication of the World Banks’ 2021 Doing Business Report was stopped in August 2020 following a scandal that uncovered data manipulation and altered scores in four countries.
• As a result of these irregularities, Saudi Arabia was named the top improving economy of 2020 around the time of the “Davos in the Desert” summit and a year after the Khashoggi murder.
• The World Bank has launched another review of the Doing Business methodology and is finally seeking feedback from CSOs, but for a meaningful and participatory consultation it must extend the deadline for feedback and organise a follow-up discussion.

In this second part of our blog series on Covid-19 from a feminist perspective, we look at what needs to be considered when designing policy responses to the Covid-19 socio-economic crisis.

Read part one

In this first part of our blog series on Covid-19 from a feminist perspective, we look at how the pandemic is impacting women and girls and deepening gender divides.

Read part two

As countries face the difficult challenge of recovering from the Covid-19 pandemic, civil society is calling on the IMF to finally close the gap between its rhetoric and practice by no longer recommending austerity measures in long-term loan programmes.

The use of private sector instruments (PSI) has raised many questions regarding its ability to reach those most in need. Through this blog, we provide an overview of the findings of a new Eurodad report analysing the latest PSI data. 

Download the full report

The body in charge of maintaining and improving the quality, comparability and relevance of DAC statistics on development cooperation will meet informally this week. Civil society is calling for greater transparency when it comes to reporting debt relief as ODA.

Faced with the crisis of the century, the G20 has failed to meet the demands of the moment. As the Saudi Arabian presidency comes to a close, Eurodad policy experts take a critical look at what has been delivered.

Debt relief should not be reported as ODA. In the coming weeks, DAC members need to decide what is most important to them: allowing ODA double counting and inflation to create incentives to reward debt relief or upholding the credibility, integrity and solid reputation of DAC statistics.

The rules on how debt relief should be counted as Official Development Assistance are currently being negotiated by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Development Assistance Committee (DAC) – under the auspices of its Chair Susanna Moorehead – and the Paris Club, which is an informal group of creditor governments. 

The world is facing an unprecedented crisis. As Covid-19 spreads across the globe it threatens to disproportionately hit developing countries.

2020 starts the ten-year countdown for the successful implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals. It is also a critical period for a just response to climate change, ensuring that those who are the least responsible do not pay the greatest price.

The new European Commission is sending a clear signal by tabling a “Green New Deal” within a month of its inception. But to be a true statement of intent rather than a mere public relations manoeuvre, it must speak to the urgency for action.  

Following the European elections in May, former German defence minister Ursula von der Leyen has assumed the role of President-elect of the European Commission. In July, von der Leyen, the first woman to take this post, released a concept paper titled “A Union that strives for more” and on Tuesday this week she unveiled the names of the new Commissioners.  And with these releases, the policy agenda of the next European Commission, mandated to govern until 2024, is slowly taking shape. In response, we ask what are the implications for development finance?   

As the promised leveraging effects of blended finance fail to materialise, the European Union is increasingly focussing on the policy environment in partner countries, based on an assumption that the problem must lie there. 

In this blog, Eurodad offers its take on the upcoming senior level meeting (SLM) of the Global Partnership for Effective Development Cooperation (GPEDC), a multi-stakeholder platform established to make sure all development actors deliver on their commitments to ensure development cooperation is really eradicating poverty and bringing about sustainable development. 

As G20 leaders meet this weekend to debate the state of the global financial and economic system, there is no shortage of problems to discuss. 

The United Nations convened in New York last week for the Financing for Development Forum. While the outcome document has been negotiated in advance, the Forum itself offered lots of opportunities to discuss what change we need to finance the sustainable development goals. 

The European Commission has released a new Staff Working Document on Policy Coherence for Development (PCD). The Commission’s report covers the first three years of the EU’s attempts to implement the Sustainable Development Goals, an endeavour for which PCD is crucial. The document however unveils that the EU’s PCD framework, as complex as it might already be, continues to have severe omissions – in particular the complete neglect of the EU’s fiscal and monetary policies on sustainable development in and outside the EU. Moreover, while the Communication maps EU policies on taxation and investment, it sells some of those as positive contributions while it neglects the risks and negative impacts that EU policies in these areas have.

When the global financial crisis broke, the world looked to the G20 to find solutions. But as G20 leaders recently gathered in Buenos Aires 10 years on for their 2018 Summit, it was all too clear that ‘too big to fail banks’ have grown even bigger while we’re stuck with a vastly expanded shadow banking industry and a very worrying new wave of debt crises. Even though the G20 consider themselves to be the world’s major body for economic policy coordination, they are sleepwalking into the next crisis.

Recent criticism of Chile’s ranking in the Doing Business Report (DBR) has once again put the report in the spotlight, with renewed calls for scrapping the highly controversial annual World Bank publication.

The first High Level Ministerial (HLM) of the Global Partnership for Effective Development Cooperation (GPEDC) ended on 16 April in Mexico City with mixed messages and a glut of new voluntary initiatives.

While hundreds of billions of tax revenues are lost every year due to tax dodging, the need for public climate finance becomes ever more urgent. A global tax deal can make polluters pay their fair share of taxes and for compensating the damage they cause.

Last week's Summit in Paris ended without tangible results. Eurodad's debt expert, Iolanda Fresnillo, argues in EU Observer that it is time to leave distractions like the New Global Financing Pact behind and focus on more serious processes, where all countries can participate on an equal footing. 

Read the piece in full on EU Observer

The remaining months of 2021 are crucial for the future of our humanity. The multiple and interrelated crises that we face call for an even greater level of unprecedented and truly multilateral action.

In this second part of our blog series on Covid-19 from a feminist perspective, we look at what needs to be considered when designing policy responses to the Covid-19 socio-economic crisis.

Read part one

Faced with the crisis of the century, the G20 has failed to meet the demands of the moment. As the Saudi Arabian presidency comes to a close, Eurodad policy experts take a critical look at what has been delivered.

On 29 September, the world’s heads of state will come together (virtually) at an extraordinary meeting to discuss financing for development during the 75th UN general assembly. This will be crucial in the battle to address the Coronavirus crisis. 

This article was originally published on ISPS News.

2020 starts the ten-year countdown for the successful implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals. It is also a critical period for a just response to climate change, ensuring that those who are the least responsible do not pay the greatest price.

The new European Commission is sending a clear signal by tabling a “Green New Deal” within a month of its inception. But to be a true statement of intent rather than a mere public relations manoeuvre, it must speak to the urgency for action.  

The Bretton Woods Institutions were built on the ruins of an old world-order, at the end of World War II, and the dawn of a new world order, marked by the birth of many new nation-states and the onset of the cold-war. 

Following the European elections in May, former German defence minister Ursula von der Leyen has assumed the role of President-elect of the European Commission. In July, von der Leyen, the first woman to take this post, released a concept paper titled “A Union that strives for more” and on Tuesday this week she unveiled the names of the new Commissioners.  And with these releases, the policy agenda of the next European Commission, mandated to govern until 2024, is slowly taking shape. In response, we ask what are the implications for development finance?   

As G20 leaders meet this weekend to debate the state of the global financial and economic system, there is no shortage of problems to discuss. 

Civil society organisations from across Europe have launched a tax justice pledge in the lead up to the European election, which take place across EU Member States from the 23 – 26 May 2019. The tax justice pledge calls on election candidates to commit to supporting five policy priorities, should they be elected as Members of European Parliament (MEPs).

The United Nations convened in New York last week for the Financing for Development Forum. While the outcome document has been negotiated in advance, the Forum itself offered lots of opportunities to discuss what change we need to finance the sustainable development goals. 

Over the course of the week leading up to International Women's Day 2019 we released a series of graphics featuring the staff of Eurodad and their work areas, with quotes reflecting how Eurodad's work aims to promote gender equality. 

Today, March 8th, marks International Women’s Day and the launch of the Global Days of Action on Tax Justice for Women’s Rights, coordinated by the Global Alliance for Tax Justice. News headlines will rightly focus on the oppression, discrimination and systemic inequalities faced by women, but one point that is often overlooked is the many ways in which the tax system, like other policies and structures, offers a transformative tool for redistribution and financing gender equity.

Public-private partnerships (PPPs) are being actively promoted by donor governments and international financial institutions to finance social services and infrastructure projects around the world.. PPPs are agreements where private sector companies replace the state as providers of traditional public services and infrastructure, such as health and education, transport, energy, and water and sanitation.

A central part of today’s unjust economic system is the disadvantageous position of women compared to men. Women are more likely to live in poverty, and are more strongly impacted by increasing global economic inequality. The difference between men and women in access to decent jobs and equal pay, as well as numerous examples of discrimination regarding ownership and inheritance rules are just some of the factors that maintain and reinforce these inequalities. Severe under-representation of women and girls in economic and wider societal decision-making at all levels adds further to the structural inequalities.

The European Commission has released a new Staff Working Document on Policy Coherence for Development (PCD). The Commission’s report covers the first three years of the EU’s attempts to implement the Sustainable Development Goals, an endeavour for which PCD is crucial. The document however unveils that the EU’s PCD framework, as complex as it might already be, continues to have severe omissions – in particular the complete neglect of the EU’s fiscal and monetary policies on sustainable development in and outside the EU. Moreover, while the Communication maps EU policies on taxation and investment, it sells some of those as positive contributions while it neglects the risks and negative impacts that EU policies in these areas have.

Tuesday January 15 2019

Today, the European Commission kick-started the debate on whether to change EU decision making on tax matters, suggesting a stepwise move towards qualified majority voting, including giving an active role to the European Parliament. At the same time, the Parliament, which currently has an advisory role on EU tax matters, adopted a strong and progressive report calling for the EU to get rid of tax policies that have negative impacts on gender equality.

When the global financial crisis broke, the world looked to the G20 to find solutions. But as G20 leaders recently gathered in Buenos Aires 10 years on for their 2018 Summit, it was all too clear that ‘too big to fail banks’ have grown even bigger while we’re stuck with a vastly expanded shadow banking industry and a very worrying new wave of debt crises. Even though the G20 consider themselves to be the world’s major body for economic policy coordination, they are sleepwalking into the next crisis.

On the morning of 5 November 2017, exactly one year ago this week, people around the world woke up to yet another shocking tax scandal. The Paradise Papers – released by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists – included 13.4 million leaked files from the law firm Appleby and others. The documents revealed the tax dodging strategies of more than 100 multinational corporations, including Nike and Apple, as well as the offshore activities of more than 120 politicians and world leaders.

The G20 Finance Ministers of the world’s largest economies met in Buenos Aires last weekend, but their failure to tackle pressing global problems, including the threat of trade wars and a looming debt crisis, highlighted how ineffective the G20 has become.  Given that the G20 cannot tackle key issues, is promoting ineffective initiatives, and has largely become a rubber stamping body for other actors, the time is ripe to rethink how the global economy is governed, and to promote alternatives.

The committee overseeing the UK government’s expenditure has published a searing report on Private Finance Initiatives (the UK version of Public Private Partnerships - PPPs). The Public Accounts Committee raises serious concerns about the “risks to value for money for the taxpayer” and identifies shortcomings in the assessment of their benefits. The report states that “it is unacceptable that after 25 years the Treasury still has no data on benefits to show the PPP model provides value for money”. The UK Treasury, meanwhile, continues to insist that it does. 

It’s not just tax transparency campaigners and citizens who want public country by country reporting.

This week, European Union finance ministers agreed to establish a common EU blacklist of so-called “non-cooperative jurisdictions” – in other words, tax havens. With one tax scandal unfolding after the other, listing and sanctioning tax havens may seem like a good solution. However, as tempting as it may sound, this EU exercise is doomed to fail – and here’s why. 

The Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) package released last year by the OECD is unlikely to put an end to tax scandals. In this blog our tax team busts open some of the most popular BEPS-related myths.

The conclusion of the ongoing negotiations for the post-2025 climate goal is top of the agenda at COP29 this week in Baku, Azerbaijan. Civil society is calling on global north leaders to deliver a binding commitment, strive to re-establish trust, and recognise the owed climate debt to the global south.

In this second part of our blog series on Covid-19 from a feminist perspective, we look at what needs to be considered when designing policy responses to the Covid-19 socio-economic crisis.

Read part one

In this first part of our blog series on Covid-19 from a feminist perspective, we look at how the pandemic is impacting women and girls and deepening gender divides.

Read part two

by Iolanda Fresnillo, Eurodad and Verónica Serafini, LATINDADD

This blog outlines the serious barriers women are facing due to the unfurling debt crisis in the global south. As debt payments increase, resources are diverted from public services investments and towards the outsourcing and privatisation of these services. This poses a threat to women’s rights and equality. CSOs across the world can help tackle this injustice, but, as this blog states, a greater gender focus for our actions is essential.

2020 starts the ten-year countdown for the successful implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals. It is also a critical period for a just response to climate change, ensuring that those who are the least responsible do not pay the greatest price.

Following the European elections in May, former German defence minister Ursula von der Leyen has assumed the role of President-elect of the European Commission. In July, von der Leyen, the first woman to take this post, released a concept paper titled “A Union that strives for more” and on Tuesday this week she unveiled the names of the new Commissioners.  And with these releases, the policy agenda of the next European Commission, mandated to govern until 2024, is slowly taking shape. In response, we ask what are the implications for development finance?   

As G20 leaders meet this weekend to debate the state of the global financial and economic system, there is no shortage of problems to discuss. 

The United Nations convened in New York last week for the Financing for Development Forum. While the outcome document has been negotiated in advance, the Forum itself offered lots of opportunities to discuss what change we need to finance the sustainable development goals. 

Social protection has been at the forefront of discussions of late, with it playing a central role in the Sustainable Development Goals, featuring heavily at this year’s United Nations Commission on the Status of Women, and as the International Monetary Fund developing an institutional view on social protection. 

Over the course of the week leading up to International Women's Day 2019 we released a series of graphics featuring the staff of Eurodad and their work areas, with quotes reflecting how Eurodad's work aims to promote gender equality. 

Today, March 8th, marks International Women’s Day and the launch of the Global Days of Action on Tax Justice for Women’s Rights, coordinated by the Global Alliance for Tax Justice. News headlines will rightly focus on the oppression, discrimination and systemic inequalities faced by women, but one point that is often overlooked is the many ways in which the tax system, like other policies and structures, offers a transformative tool for redistribution and financing gender equity.

Public-private partnerships (PPPs) are being actively promoted by donor governments and international financial institutions to finance social services and infrastructure projects around the world.. PPPs are agreements where private sector companies replace the state as providers of traditional public services and infrastructure, such as health and education, transport, energy, and water and sanitation.

A central part of today’s unjust economic system is the disadvantageous position of women compared to men. Women are more likely to live in poverty, and are more strongly impacted by increasing global economic inequality. The difference between men and women in access to decent jobs and equal pay, as well as numerous examples of discrimination regarding ownership and inheritance rules are just some of the factors that maintain and reinforce these inequalities. Severe under-representation of women and girls in economic and wider societal decision-making at all levels adds further to the structural inequalities.

When the global financial crisis broke, the world looked to the G20 to find solutions. But as G20 leaders recently gathered in Buenos Aires 10 years on for their 2018 Summit, it was all too clear that ‘too big to fail banks’ have grown even bigger while we’re stuck with a vastly expanded shadow banking industry and a very worrying new wave of debt crises. Even though the G20 consider themselves to be the world’s major body for economic policy coordination, they are sleepwalking into the next crisis.

The conclusion of the ongoing negotiations for the post-2025 climate goal is top of the agenda at COP29 this week in Baku, Azerbaijan. Civil society is calling on global north leaders to deliver a binding commitment, strive to re-establish trust, and recognise the owed climate debt to the global south.

While hundreds of billions of tax revenues are lost every year due to tax dodging, the need for public climate finance becomes ever more urgent. A global tax deal can make polluters pay their fair share of taxes and for compensating the damage they cause.

Eurodad's Senior Policy and Advocacy Officer Markus Trilling explains the negative effect of the EU's Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism' (CBAM) on countries in the global south. 

This opinion piece was first published by the EU Observer here.

Most climate finance for countries in the global south is in the form of loans that come with high-interest payments. This blog, written by Eurodad's Iolanda Fresnillo and Leia Achampong, outlines the impact of climate finance loans and why grants are essential to global south countries implementing robust climate measures.

Read the full article on Global Dev

Human rights, equity and climate justice must guide all COPs. These principles are needed more than ever at COP28.

Written by Shereen Talaat (MENA Fem), Iolanda Fresnillo and Leia Achampong (Eurodad)

The central driver of the World Bank's approach towards resolving the climate crisis places the  private sector as the key provider of finance and centres the WBG as a facilitator of the mobilisation of private capital. Given the Bank's record on climate, together with its plans for the future, such a scenario gives great cause for concern. Furthermore, while rich country governments - the main shareholders of the WBG - are pushing for a greater role of the WBG in climate action, they continue to fall behind on the U$S100 billion annual commitments on climate finance. 

Eurodad's questions ex-MasterCard chief Ajay Banga's nomination by the USA as their candidate for president of the World Bank Group. It is crucial that the next World Bank leader breaks with the past and has a vision for the future, but a Banga presidency will bring only more of the same. 

COP27 only delivered one part of the climate finance puzzle, namely a Loss and Damage Fund. Developed countries need to step up their efforts to repay the climate debt so all countries are able to pursue sustainable development.

The UN Climate Conference (COP27) is currently taking place in Egypt. Tackling climate change requires a global effort; so it is crucial that the quality and quantity of international climate finance for countries in the global south is strengthened. Two key markers of success at COP27 are whether countries agree to a Loss and Damage Finance Facility, and whether the post-2025 climate finance goal will cover loss and damage.

Ahead of the UN climate conference (COP27) - the first to take place in Africa for five years - European Union (EU) Foreign Ministers have published their 2022 Climate Diplomacy priorities. These priorities help us understand the level of EU ambition, and the direction the bloc will take in various negotiating spheres throughout the year.

Eurodad experts analyse how COP26 failed to deliver on climate finance, loss and damage and adaptation.

Analysis of the 2019 Climate Finance data released by the OECD shows developed countries are still falling short of meeting the US$ 100 billion per year climate finance goal. 

The remaining months of 2021 are crucial for the future of our humanity. The multiple and interrelated crises that we face call for an even greater level of unprecedented and truly multilateral action.

Faced with the crisis of the century, the G20 has failed to meet the demands of the moment. As the Saudi Arabian presidency comes to a close, Eurodad policy experts take a critical look at what has been delivered.

Climate action cannot stop, despite the cancellation of high-level climate meetings due to Covid-19. When the time comes to rebuild our economies, we must focus on achieving the goals set out in the Paris Agreement.

“Climate disruption is approaching a point of no return [...] We must act decisively to protect our planet from both the coronavirus and the existential threat of climate disruption.”

BBC News 

2020 starts the ten-year countdown for the successful implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals. It is also a critical period for a just response to climate change, ensuring that those who are the least responsible do not pay the greatest price.

The new European Commission is sending a clear signal by tabling a “Green New Deal” within a month of its inception. But to be a true statement of intent rather than a mere public relations manoeuvre, it must speak to the urgency for action.  

The debate about a Green New Deal has recently been reinvigorated in both sides of the Atlantic. In Europe, the Green New Deal is part of the priorities of the European Commission’s President-elect Ursula von der Leyen. And at the UN in New York last month, sustainable development was featured in a series of global Summits, including the Climate Action Summit. In response, UNCTAD used the momentum to  launch the 2019 edition of the Trade and Development Report (TDR) which analyses the new deal from a financing perspective, identifies constraints and outlines innovative financing options. 

Following the European elections in May, former German defence minister Ursula von der Leyen has assumed the role of President-elect of the European Commission. In July, von der Leyen, the first woman to take this post, released a concept paper titled “A Union that strives for more” and on Tuesday this week she unveiled the names of the new Commissioners.  And with these releases, the policy agenda of the next European Commission, mandated to govern until 2024, is slowly taking shape. In response, we ask what are the implications for development finance?   

The United Nations convened in New York last week for the Financing for Development Forum. While the outcome document has been negotiated in advance, the Forum itself offered lots of opportunities to discuss what change we need to finance the sustainable development goals. 

When the global financial crisis broke, the world looked to the G20 to find solutions. But as G20 leaders recently gathered in Buenos Aires 10 years on for their 2018 Summit, it was all too clear that ‘too big to fail banks’ have grown even bigger while we’re stuck with a vastly expanded shadow banking industry and a very worrying new wave of debt crises. Even though the G20 consider themselves to be the world’s major body for economic policy coordination, they are sleepwalking into the next crisis.

This week's negotiations, and subsequent agreement, on new reporting rules are an opportunity for OECD Development Assistance Committee members to show they take their financial commitments towards the global south seriously.

Last month, the Global Partnership for Effective Development Cooperation (GPEDC) - a broad and high level association of governments and organisations tasked with ensuring development cooperation works - hosted its latest summit. The stakes could not have been higher as the world enters 2023.

The new Chair of the OECD’s Development Assistance Committee (DAC) is Denmark’s Carsten Staur – an experienced former Minister for International Development Co-operation – who will start his role in March 2023. In a world of overlapping crises, the stakes are too high to fail.

This blog was originally posted on the Global Partnership website here.

In the space of a few months, Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) - supplementary reserve assets created by the International Monetary Fund - have gone from being a topic for IMF geeks to the talk of the town. There are two main issues at stake.

This is the first blog in a series of blogs on SDRs.

• The publication of the World Banks’ 2021 Doing Business Report was stopped in August 2020 following a scandal that uncovered data manipulation and altered scores in four countries.
• As a result of these irregularities, Saudi Arabia was named the top improving economy of 2020 around the time of the “Davos in the Desert” summit and a year after the Khashoggi murder.
• The World Bank has launched another review of the Doing Business methodology and is finally seeking feedback from CSOs, but for a meaningful and participatory consultation it must extend the deadline for feedback and organise a follow-up discussion.

The rules on how debt relief should be counted as Official Development Assistance are currently being negotiated by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Development Assistance Committee (DAC) – under the auspices of its Chair Susanna Moorehead – and the Paris Club, which is an informal group of creditor governments. 

The world is facing an unprecedented crisis. As Covid-19 spreads across the globe it threatens to disproportionately hit developing countries.

On 16 April 2020, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) released the preliminary statistics on Official Development Assistance (ODA) for 2019.

By Cecilia Caio (Development Initiatives) and Nerea Craviotto (Eurodad). Originally published on Devex

2020 starts the ten-year countdown for the successful implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals. It is also a critical period for a just response to climate change, ensuring that those who are the least responsible do not pay the greatest price.

On 22 January, Eurodad Director Jean Saldanha spoke as part of the public hearing on aid effectiveness held by the European Parliament Committee on Development. 

The Bretton Woods Institutions were built on the ruins of an old world-order, at the end of World War II, and the dawn of a new world order, marked by the birth of many new nation-states and the onset of the cold-war. 

Earlier this week, Members of the European Parliament had the opportunity to hear the Commissioner-designate for ‘International Partnerships’, a crucial step before she can be formally appointed by the Council later this month. In her statement to MEPs, former Finnish finance minister Jutta Urpilainen committed to focus on meeting the SDGs, reducing inequalities and eradicating poverty.

Following the European elections in May, former German defence minister Ursula von der Leyen has assumed the role of President-elect of the European Commission. In July, von der Leyen, the first woman to take this post, released a concept paper titled “A Union that strives for more” and on Tuesday this week she unveiled the names of the new Commissioners.  And with these releases, the policy agenda of the next European Commission, mandated to govern until 2024, is slowly taking shape. In response, we ask what are the implications for development finance?   

In this short blog, Eurodad looks back at the past senior level meeting (SLM) of the Global Partnership for Effective Development Cooperation (GPEDC), a multi-stakeholder platform established to make sure all development actors deliver on their commitments to ensure development cooperation is really eradicating poverty and bringing about sustainable development. 

In this blog, Eurodad offers its take on the upcoming senior level meeting (SLM) of the Global Partnership for Effective Development Cooperation (GPEDC), a multi-stakeholder platform established to make sure all development actors deliver on their commitments to ensure development cooperation is really eradicating poverty and bringing about sustainable development. 

Last week the International Monetary Fund (IMF) published its Review of Program Design and Conditionality 2018, which provides an overview of the IMF’s lending programmes between 2011 and 2017

The United Nations convened in New York last week for the Financing for Development Forum. While the outcome document has been negotiated in advance, the Forum itself offered lots of opportunities to discuss what change we need to finance the sustainable development goals. 

Last week the Development Assistance Committee (DAC) of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) released their preliminary figures on the amount of official development assistance (ODA), or development aid, raised in 2018. Following the OECD’s publication, Eurodad released an initial reaction.

This week, governments will meet at the United Nations in New York for the Financing for Development Forum, and the challenge is very clear. Too little progress has been made towards achieving the UN’s sustainable development goals (SDGs), which to a large extent is the consequence of lacking finance. The 2015 Addis Ababa Action Agenda, a UN framework adopted at the same time as the SDGs, which is supposed to ensure money flows toward development and the achievement of the SDGs, is not fulfilling its objective.

While the IMF cautions against the fiscal risks of public-private partnerships (PPPs), the institution is simultaneously backing them at a country programme level and advocates austerity measures that push governments towards expanding PPPs through constrained budgets.

Social protection has been at the forefront of discussions of late, with it playing a central role in the Sustainable Development Goals, featuring heavily at this year’s United Nations Commission on the Status of Women, and as the International Monetary Fund developing an institutional view on social protection. 

Over the course of the week leading up to International Women's Day 2019 we released a series of graphics featuring the staff of Eurodad and their work areas, with quotes reflecting how Eurodad's work aims to promote gender equality. 

This week the UN Human Rights Council will discuss new Guiding Principles to ensure human rights are integral to economic policy-making.  

The European Commission has released a new Staff Working Document on Policy Coherence for Development (PCD). The Commission’s report covers the first three years of the EU’s attempts to implement the Sustainable Development Goals, an endeavour for which PCD is crucial. The document however unveils that the EU’s PCD framework, as complex as it might already be, continues to have severe omissions – in particular the complete neglect of the EU’s fiscal and monetary policies on sustainable development in and outside the EU. Moreover, while the Communication maps EU policies on taxation and investment, it sells some of those as positive contributions while it neglects the risks and negative impacts that EU policies in these areas have.

By Polly Meeks, Senior Policy and Advocacy Officer at Eurodad, Julie Seghers, Advocacy Advisor at Oxfam and Jiten Yumnam, Secretary General at the Centre for Research and Advocacy Manipur 

When the global financial crisis broke, the world looked to the G20 to find solutions. But as G20 leaders recently gathered in Buenos Aires 10 years on for their 2018 Summit, it was all too clear that ‘too big to fail banks’ have grown even bigger while we’re stuck with a vastly expanded shadow banking industry and a very worrying new wave of debt crises. Even though the G20 consider themselves to be the world’s major body for economic policy coordination, they are sleepwalking into the next crisis.

“There are negotiations being made that are going to answer all of your questions and solve all of your problems. That’s all I can tell you right now.” So goes the line from The Godfather.

This article has been originally published by Public Finance International. 

There’s nothing like a royal baby to throw off the best-made predictions.

Back in May, as the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development’s Development Assistance Committee (DAC) kicked off a new round of negotiations on untying Official Development Assistance (ODA), I blogged that this would still be a burning issue long after interest in the British royal wedding and other events of 2018 had subsided.

On 2 July, the Development Assistance Committee of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD DAC) will decide whether to change the rules on how debt relief is reported as Official Development Assistance (ODA). There is a serious risk that these changes could create loopholes allowing donors that use debt-based instruments to inflate their aid levels at the expense of the poorest countries.

Last week the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development’s Development Assistance Committee (OECD DAC) released its 2018 report on untying Official Development Assistance (ODA).

Tied aid is currently used to buy goods or services from the country providing the ODA. In other words, it puts the commercial objectives of companies in donor countries ahead of the priorities of people in the global south.

Using aid to mobilise trillions in private money is a hot and hugely controversial topic. Such aid is no different from any other kind: it can be well spent or badly spent and should meet basic effectiveness principles

The rise of public-private partnerships (PPPs) has deeply affected the delivery of public services and infrastructure projects across the world. In this opinion piece, experts from Eurodad, Latindadd and APMDD highlight why we must move away from this failed model and promote public options to build a future that is public. 

By Océane Blavot (Eurodad), Rodolfo Bejarano (Latindadd), Mae Buenaventura (APMDD)

Read the full opinion piece on IPS News

While G7 leaders argue that they "aim for a step change" in their approach to infrastructure financing, a market-led approach is still at the heart of the G7’s plan to "build back better" for the world. In the following blog, María José Romero, Farwa Sial and Flora Sonkin analyse the proposals, the risks and an alternative way of thinking about infrastructure.

The Summit on the Financing of African Economies convened by the French President, Emmanuel Macron last week was mostly a rhetorical exercise in supporting Africa’s post-pandemic recovery and resilience-building.

It is vital that we seize the opportunity afforded by the Finance in Common Summit to reclaim public development banks for the public good.

Originally published on IDN-InDepthNews

Before Covid-19 most discussions on development finance were focused on using public money and institutions to ‘leverage’ private finance. The pandemic has, however, exposed the consequences of decades of austerity policies and privatisation strategies.

2020 starts the ten-year countdown for the successful implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals. It is also a critical period for a just response to climate change, ensuring that those who are the least responsible do not pay the greatest price.

This is the second of two blogs on PPPs in the UK. Read the first part here.

This is the first of two blogs looking at PPPs in the UK. Read the second part here

The debate about a Green New Deal has recently been reinvigorated in both sides of the Atlantic. In Europe, the Green New Deal is part of the priorities of the European Commission’s President-elect Ursula von der Leyen. And at the UN in New York last month, sustainable development was featured in a series of global Summits, including the Climate Action Summit. In response, UNCTAD used the momentum to  launch the 2019 edition of the Trade and Development Report (TDR) which analyses the new deal from a financing perspective, identifies constraints and outlines innovative financing options. 

Following the European elections in May, former German defence minister Ursula von der Leyen has assumed the role of President-elect of the European Commission. In July, von der Leyen, the first woman to take this post, released a concept paper titled “A Union that strives for more” and on Tuesday this week she unveiled the names of the new Commissioners.  And with these releases, the policy agenda of the next European Commission, mandated to govern until 2024, is slowly taking shape. In response, we ask what are the implications for development finance?   

Le prochain budget de l'UE (2021-2027) est en cours de négociation. En avril, le Parlement européen a confirmé sa position sur Instrument de voisinage (NDICI), de coopération au développement et de coopération internationale, qui déterminera la coopération au développement de l'UE sur cette période.

The next EU budget (2021-2027) is under negotiation. In April the European Parliament confirmed its stand on the Neighbourhood, Development and International Cooperation Instrument (NDICI), which will determine EU development cooperation during this period. The Parliament’s position includes crucial provisions to ensure that the instrument is up to the task of eradicating poverty, reducing inequalities and supporting sustainable development.

Over the years the World Bank has developed a number of “guidance tools” on public-private partnerships (PPPs) aimed to support public authorities to implement PPP projects. 

The United Nations convened in New York last week for the Financing for Development Forum. While the outcome document has been negotiated in advance, the Forum itself offered lots of opportunities to discuss what change we need to finance the sustainable development goals. 

While the IMF cautions against the fiscal risks of public-private partnerships (PPPs), the institution is simultaneously backing them at a country programme level and advocates austerity measures that push governments towards expanding PPPs through constrained budgets.

Over the course of the week leading up to International Women's Day 2019 we released a series of graphics featuring the staff of Eurodad and their work areas, with quotes reflecting how Eurodad's work aims to promote gender equality. 

Public-private partnerships (PPPs) are being actively promoted by donor governments and international financial institutions to finance social services and infrastructure projects around the world.. PPPs are agreements where private sector companies replace the state as providers of traditional public services and infrastructure, such as health and education, transport, energy, and water and sanitation.

The European Commission has released a new Staff Working Document on Policy Coherence for Development (PCD). The Commission’s report covers the first three years of the EU’s attempts to implement the Sustainable Development Goals, an endeavour for which PCD is crucial. The document however unveils that the EU’s PCD framework, as complex as it might already be, continues to have severe omissions – in particular the complete neglect of the EU’s fiscal and monetary policies on sustainable development in and outside the EU. Moreover, while the Communication maps EU policies on taxation and investment, it sells some of those as positive contributions while it neglects the risks and negative impacts that EU policies in these areas have.

First published by Development Finance International 

When the global financial crisis broke, the world looked to the G20 to find solutions. But as G20 leaders recently gathered in Buenos Aires 10 years on for their 2018 Summit, it was all too clear that ‘too big to fail banks’ have grown even bigger while we’re stuck with a vastly expanded shadow banking industry and a very worrying new wave of debt crises. Even though the G20 consider themselves to be the world’s major body for economic policy coordination, they are sleepwalking into the next crisis.

With the country still reeling from the devastation of the Sulawesi tsunami, Indonesia played host to the Annual Meetings of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank Group (WBG), in Bali last week. The sobriety of the moment was reflected in gloomy forecasts from the IMF, which issued stark warnings of debt and trade risks to global growth. Meanwhile, controversy surrounded the World Bank’s new Human Capital Index; the 2019 World Development Report; and the ‘private finance first’ approach at the core of the Bank’s Maximising Finance for Development. CSOs and academics raised their voices to shine a light on the risks that the policies of the Bretton Woods Institutions (BWIs) posed to human rights and sustainable development across the Global South. Eurodad presented new research on the harmful impacts of Public-Private Partnerships and on IMF loan conditionality, and facilitated dialogue on better creditor coordination to solve debt crises.

This is a Spanish version of the article: Argentina: 20 years on, has the IMF really changed its ways? It has been initially published at FARN website.

En julio, los argentinos experimentaron un déjà vu con los anuncios del gobierno de despidos masivos y congelamiento de salarios como parte de las medidas de ajuste ligadas a un préstamo del Fondo Monetario Internacional (FMI). Miles de funcionarios públicos se ven obligados una vez más a asumir duras medidas de austeridad. De acuerdo con el programa del FMI se introducirán medidas selectivas de asistencia social para compensar la situación.

The G20 Finance Ministers of the world’s largest economies met in Buenos Aires last weekend, but their failure to tackle pressing global problems, including the threat of trade wars and a looming debt crisis, highlighted how ineffective the G20 has become.  Given that the G20 cannot tackle key issues, is promoting ineffective initiatives, and has largely become a rubber stamping body for other actors, the time is ripe to rethink how the global economy is governed, and to promote alternatives.

This article has also been published by Triple Crisis. 

Argentinians are experiencing deja-vu this month as the government announces massive layoffs and a hiring freeze as part of an adjustment package attached to a loan from the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Thousands of public servants are being forced yet again to swallow the bitter pill of austerity, which the IMF programme - published last Friday - aims to patch up through increased targeted social assistance.

Using aid to mobilise trillions in private money is a hot and hugely controversial topic. Such aid is no different from any other kind: it can be well spent or badly spent and should meet basic effectiveness principles