Why the World Needs to Invest in Female Climate Entrepreneurs

Posted by Talal Rafi^[1]

Repost from the World Economic Forum.

Women are more affected by climate change than men, and yet innovation and entrepreneurship in this area is male-dominated.

Gender Budgeting in G20 Countries

Posted by Teresa Curristine, Alberto Soler, Virginia Alonso-Albarran, Gemma Preston, Nino Tchelishvili, and Sureni Weerathunga^[1]

The COVID-19 crisis has disproportionately impacted women and increased the urgency of developing and implementing policies to address gender inequality. Gender budgeting (GB) is one of the instruments governments use to help tackle gender inequalities. Recognizing that a government’s policies and funding decisions impact men and women differently, GB applies a gender lens or perspective to identify gaps in fiscal policies and the budget process and provides the tools to address these gaps. G20-Women, the official G20 engagement group on gender equality, has called for greater investment in GB to ensure that fiscal policies advance gender equality in the recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic and in the longer term.

PFM Reforms in Nigeria: Lessons from 20 years of UK Support

Posted by Sierd Hadley^[1], Laure-Hélène Piron^[2], Gareth Williams^[3], and Clare Cummings^[4]

The transition to democracy in Nigeria in 1999 raised expectations for change after more than 30 years of military rule. The UK began its support to PFM reforms as part of an effort to translate oil revenues and debt relief into better infrastructure and public services. A new series of papers and webinars led by the Learning, Evidence and Advocacy Partnership of the UK-funded Partnership to Engage, Reform and Learn (PERL) reviews 20 years of UK governance support in Nigeria. This research looks at what has been achieved, how and why.

Keeping the Receipts in France: COVID-19 Support Measures to Businesses

Posted by Cédric Audenis (France Stratégie), Vincent Aussilloux (France Stratégie), Haithem Ben Hassine (France Stratégie), and Paul-Armand Veillon (Inspection Générale des Finances)

The French government spent more than 225 billion euros between March 2020 and June 2021 to support businesses affected by the COVID-19 crisis. This amount included more than 60 billion euros in subsidies for partial unemployment schemes and to compensate operating losses for small and micro businesses through a so-called Solidarity Fund.

«Garder une trace» en France – les mesures de soutien aux entreprises dans le cadre de la pandémie de COVID-19

Publié par Cédric Audenis (France Stratégie), Vincent Aussilloux (France Stratégie), Haithem Ben Hassine (France Stratégie) et Paul-Armand Veillon (Inspection Générale des Finances)

Face à la crise, l’Etat français a engagé plus de 225 Md€ de mars 2020 à fin juin 2021 pour soutenir les entreprises, dont plus de 60 Md€ de subventions réparties à parts égales entre le fonds de solidarité et l’activité partielle.

IMF Releases the Fiscal Risk Management Portal

By Carolina Renteria, Jason Harris,  Amanda Sayegh, Lesley Fisher, and Nathalie Carcenac^[1]

During economic crises, macroeconomic shocks are often compounded by a cascading realization of fiscal risks as one domino falls after another. The realization of these risks entails additional calls on public resources, during already challenging fiscal circumstances, and arise from a wide variety of sources: bailouts of state-owned enterprises (SOEs), calls on government guarantees, and loan write-offs. Fiscal risks from macroeconomic shocks and other sources have been responsible for four-fifths of the unexpected increases in country debt to GDP ratios over the past 25 years.

How Digitalization of PFM can Improve Service Delivery

By Sandeep Saxena, Delphine Moretti, and Raju Sharan^[1]

Digitalization of public financial management (PFM) has received increased attention around the world. Governments are looking to leverage technological innovations to transform the delivery of public services. The COVID-19 pandemic provided further motivation to accelerate the pace of digitalization. All around the globe, several innovative tools and modes of service delivery have emerged within the past year, and many more are in progress. These increased ambitions, however, need to be matched with a coherent strategic framework to enable countries to prioritize investments in digitalization and to optimize benefits.

Improving the Performance of Public Entities in Sub-Saharan Africa

Posted by Matthieu Sarda^[1]

Many Sub-Saharan countries are updating and modernizing their legal and regulatory frameworks for the financial management of state-owned enterprises and other public entities (e.g., universities and hospitals). These entities raise revenues and have a management and decision-making structure that are at arms-length to the government, and thus merit separate treatment to the ministries and agencies directly managed by the government.

Améliorer les performances des établissements publics en Afrique sub-saharienne

Publié par Matthieu Sarda^[1]

De nombreux pays d’Afrique subsaharienne modernisent leur cadre législatif et réglementaire relatif à la gestion financière des entités publiques, terme qui désigne les sociétés d’Etat ou encore les établissements publics administratifs (EPA - universités ou hôpitaux notamment). Ces derniers peuvent percevoir des ressources propres et disposer d’une autonomie juridique, ce qui les distingue notamment des ministères et des agences.

COVID-19: Fiscal Policy Options to Address Rising Inequality in Uganda

Posted by Enock Bulime^[1]

The impact of COVID-19, the associated lockdowns and other containment measures, could result in new socio-economic inequalities in Uganda and exacerbate the existing gaps between the rich and the poor, including the vulnerable. However, a more credible and supportive fiscal policy could reduce the intensity and magnitude of the expected increase in inequality.