High energy prices triggered by Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine prompted governments to reduce excise taxes during 2022, leading to lower tax levels in many countries, according to new OECD analysis. Revenue Statistics 2023 shows that the average tax-to-GDP ratio in the OECD fell by 0.15 percentage points (p.p.) in 2022, to 34.0%. This was only the third such decline since the Global Financial Crisis in 2008-09: the level fell by 0.6 p.p. in 2017 and by 0.1 p.p. in 2019. Revenues from excise taxes fell as a share ...

Year-on-year inflation in the OECD, as measured by the Consumer Price Index (CPI), decreased to 5.6% in October 2023 from 6.2% in September. This is the lowest level since October 2021, although a similar rate was briefly approached in June 2023 at 5.7% (Figures 1 and 2). Declines in inflation between September and October 2023 were registered in 28 OECD countries. By contrast, inflation increased by one percentage point or more in Greece, Czechia, and Costa Rica. Inflation rates were close to zero in Denmark, turning negative in the Netherlands ...

Britain’s government should tighten its budgetary belt, the OECD said on Wednesday, advice that is unlikely to be welcomed by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak who is expected to cut taxes again before a 2024 election. A week after finance minister Jeremy Hunt announced tax sweeteners for workers and businesses, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development said the government should do more to shore up the public finances after the huge hits from the COVID pandemic and last year’s energy price surge. “Maintaining and strengthening current fiscal efforts is essential ...

Global growth is set to remain modest, with the impact of the necessary monetary policy tightening, weak trade and lower business and consumer confidence being increasingly felt, according to the OECD’s latest Economic Outlook. The Outlook projects global GDP growth of 2.9% in 2023, followed by a mild slowdown to 2.7% in 2024 and a slight improvement to 3.0% in 2025. Asia is expected to continue to account for the bulk of global growth in 2024-25, as it has in 2023. Consumer price inflation is expected to continue to ease ...

The International Monetary Fund is “very keen” to support Argentina and the country could be a candidate to receive financing through its Resilience and Sustainability Trust (RST), the Fund’s chief Kristalina Georgieva said. Georgieva is expected to meet Argentina’s President-elect Javier Milei in person during his visit to Washington on Tuesday. This follows a first virtual meeting between Milei and the Fund on Friday, which Georgieva described as a “very constructive engagement, very serious discussion”. “Let’s see how the engagement goes – but good promising first step,” Georgieva told Reuters ...

Italy should be taking tougher action to deal with its deficit and debt levels, the head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said in an interview published online on Thursday. “We think that what is now in the budget for Italy should be strengthened,” IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva was quoted as saying by Italy’s Corriere della Sera newspaper. “The fiscal adjustment Italy is taking is not going to work fast enough to bring deficits and debt levels down,” she added in comments published in English after an interview with ...

G20 merchandise trade contracted in value terms in Q3 2023, compared to the previous quarter and measured in current US dollars (Figure 1 and 2). Following on a decrease recorded last quarter, exports and imports fell again by 1.2% and 2.1%, respectively, reflecting a continued slowdown most notably in East Asia and Europe. Merchandise exports declined by 1.5% in the European Union, and by more than 2.0% in Germany and France, largely due to lower sales of machinery and transport equipment. Merchandise trade also contracted in East Asia, with China ...

Jurisdictions with high tax rates account for more than half of the low-taxed profits reported globally by multinational enterprises (MNEs), according to new OECD analysis. The new data and estimates on taxation of large MNE profits show how tax incentives and other concessions in jurisdictions with high statutory and average tax rates enable some firms to pay low effective tax rates (ETRs). The findings highlight how the introduction of a global minimum tax rate on the profits of large MNEs agreed by the OECD/G20 Inclusive Framework would create new opportunities ...

Gross domestic product (GDP) in the OECD rose by 0.5% in the third quarter of 2023, the same pace as the previous quarter, according to provisional estimates (Figure 1). In the G7, quarter-on-quarter GDP growth picked up to 0.6% in Q3, from 0.4% in Q2, driven by a significant acceleration of GDP growth in the United States (1.2% in Q3, compared with 0.5% in Q2). The remaining G7 countries recorded zero, close-to-zero, or negative growth in Q3: growth was flat in Canada, Italy, and the United Kingdom, 0.1% in France, ...

Permanent migration to OECD countries reached 6.1 million in 2022, a 26% increase compared with 2021, and its highest level since at least 2005. 15 out of the 38 OECD countries registered in 2022 their highest levels of permanent migration over the past 15 years. Rising labour migration was one contributing factor, as migrant workers have helped lower labour and skills shortages in OECD countries. Asylum applications in the OECD were also at a record high. Over two million new applications were lodged in OECD countries in 2022, well above ...

The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) warned on Thursday that Germany’s budget crisis, which has called into question billions of euros in planned spending, could hamper the European economy over the next few years. “If there is less investment and spending in Germany over the next few years because there is less money available, this will inevitably have an impact on the EU economy,” Robert Grundke, the head of the OECD’s Germany desk, told Reuters. As a result, Germany would import fewer intermediate goods and fewer final goods ...

National climate policy action across the countries that produce nearly two thirds of total greenhouse gas emissions only increased by 1% in 2022, the lowest annual growth recorded since 2000, and reflecting a deceleration in ambitions to meet the Paris Agreement temperature goals amid growing energy security concerns. In contrast, between 2000 and 2021, national climate policy action increased by an average of 10% a year, according to new OECD analysis of policy adoption and policy stringency of the 50 countries covered by the Climate Action and Policies Measurement Framework. ...

The head of the International Monetary Fund has urged countries to make a more proactive push to develop central bank digital currencies (CBDC). Eleven countries, including a number in the Caribbean, and Nigeria, have already launched CBDCs. Around 120 others are exploring them, although progress and approaches differ widely and a few have even abandoned the idea altogether. “We may be at a point where the public sector needs to offer a little more guidance,” IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva said in a speech in Singapore. “Not to crowd out, ...

Greece’s economy is expected to expand by 2.5% this year due to strong domestic demand, investments and EU funds, the International Monetary Fund said on Tuesday. Growth will slow down to 2.0% next year, the fund said in staff concluding statement. Source: Reuters

The OECD unemployment rate was stable at 4.8% in September 2023, having remained below 5.0% since July 2022. The unemployment rate rose in 16 OECD countries in September 2023, was unchanged in 11, and declined in 6. The number of unemployed persons in the OECD increased to 33.3 million in September, its highest level in 2023, mainly driven by an increase in the number of unemployed men. In September 2023, the OECD unemployment rates were broadly stable across all defined categories: men, women, youth (aged 15-24) and workers aged 25 ...