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, ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

The International Monetary Fund on Friday announced a staff-level agreement with Ukraine on updated economic and financial policies, paving the way for a $900 million disbursement from its $15.6 billion lending program once approved by the board. The global lender said its executive board was expected to consider the agreement in coming weeks. It said Ukraine met all quantitative performance criteria set for the end of June, and indicative targets for the end of September, as well as most of the structural benchmarks set under the IMF’s Extended Fund Facility ...

China has forged deep economic ties with countries in sub-Saharan Africa over the past 20 years, making it the region’s largest single country trading partner. China buys one-fifth of the region’s exports—metals, minerals, and fuel—and provides most of the manufactured goods and machinery imported by African countries. However, China’s recovery from the pandemic has slowed recently due to a property downturn and flagging demand for its manufactured goods as global growth has also slowed. This matters for Africa. A one percentage point decline in China’s growth rate could reduce average ...

U.S. Federal Reserve officials “are not confident” that interest rates are yet high enough to finish the battle with inflation, and may be nearing the end of how much help they can expect in lowering price pressures from improvements in the supply of goods, services and labor, Fed Chair Jerome Powell said on Thursday. In comments prepared for delivery to an International Monetary Fund research conference, Powell said the Fed “is committed to achieving a stance of monetary policy that is sufficiently restrictive to bring inflation down to 2% over ...

Rapid wage growth in the euro zone could keep inflation elevated longer and the European Central Bank should hold interest rates at or near record highs through next year to extinguish price pressures, the International Monetary Fund said on Wednesday. The ECB broke a streak of ten straight rate hikes last month, fuelling market expectations that its next move will be a cut, possibly as soon as April, with a total of 90 basis points of reductions priced in by the close of next year. Pushing back on early rate ...

Year-on-year inflation in the OECD, as measured by the Consumer Price Index (CPI), decreased to 6.2% in September 2023 from 6.4% in August, following increases in July and August (Figures 1 and 3). Inflation fell between August and September in 27 OECD countries. By contrast, it rose in 8 OECD countries, with rises of around or more than one percentage point (p.p.) in Spain, Costa Rica (the only OECD country where headline inflation was negative), Slovenia, and Türkiye. Double-digit inflation was recorded in Türkiye, Hungary and Colombia. Food inflation in ...

Big hikes in the minimum wage planned in central Europe for next year raise the risk of more persistent inflation or job losses amid relatively weak productivity growth across the region, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has warned. With inflation easing from double-digit levels, the region’s economies are at a turning point as ebbing price growth nudges real wages back into positive territory, which governments hope will aid consumption and a broader economic recovery next year. However, that expected boon to the region’s economies, which have slowed sharply or even ...

China’s economy is set to grow 5.4% this year, having made a “strong” post-COVID recovery, the International Monetary Fund said on Tuesday, making an upward revision to its earlier forecast of 5% growth, while expecting slower growth next year. The IMF said continued weakness in the property sector and subdued external demand could restrict gross domestic product growth to 4.6% in 2024, which was still better than the 4.2% forecast contained in its World Economic Outlook (WEO), published in October. The upward revision followed a decision by China to approve ...