On a recent visit to Pakistan the UK Prime Minister, David Cameron, said that the Pakistanis would have to work on improving their tax system if they were to justify the 650m pounds aid package being offered. As the FT reported, “Mr Cameron admitted it was difficult to justify such aid when British taxpayer saw “waste” in a country where “too few people pay tax”. Although he importantly left out any mention of the role of UK and other developed country tax havens in depriving developing countries of much-needed revenues (something examined in detail in ...
Over the past couple of years, new global players underscored their ascendance in the world order. Emerging economies leveraged their strong economic recovery with a rapid expansion of global trade and finance, including to developing countries. By contrast, many traditional global powers struggled to make ends meet. Countries that have been prominent donors for decades fell back on their development cooperation commitments. Many, moreover, continued to integrate their development support with responses to a host of other concerns – such as peace and security, climate change, economic recovery and growth, and food security. They now ...
The European Parliament held its first hearing on the European Commission’s proposal for the European Union’s new GSP scheme at the end of May. The new proposal is far-reaching and ambitious (see Isabelle Ramdoo’s overview of the main changes). The hearing comprised of several interventions by experts, business representatives and officials, followed by a Q&A session. The two hours long hearing touched upon many of the proposal’s features, but comments and discussions focused on the big lines. The GSP debate is well under way, and the EC’s proposal is raising key questions about EU trade ...
