Browse by: "2016"

The Jordan Clean Energy Investment Policy Review is a country-specific application of the OECD Policy Guidance for Investment in Clean Energy Infrastructure. It aims to help Jordanian policy makers strengthen the enabling conditions for investment in renewable electricity generation in Jordan. The Policy Guidance is a non-prescriptive tool to help governments identify ways to mobilise private sector investment in clean energy infrastructure, especially in renewable electricity generation. The Policy Guidance was jointly developed by the OECD Working Party on Climate, Investment and Development (WPCID) of the Environment Policy Committee (EPOC) and the OECD Investment Committee, jointly with the Global Relations Secretariat (GRS). It benefited from significant inputs of the World Bank and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). The Policy Guidance was annexed to the Communiqué of G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors at their meeting on 10-11 October 2013.

An estimated 22% of the world’s largest firms are now effectively under state control, this is the highest percentage in decades. These firms are likely to remain a prominent feature of the global marketplace in the near future. The upsurge of state-owned enterprises (SOEs) as global competitors has given rise to concerns related to a level playing field.  Some business competitors and observers claim that preferential treatment granted by governments to SOEs in return for public policy obligations carried out at home can give SOEs a competitive edge in their foreign expansion. The OECD has taken a multidisciplinary approach, looking at the issue from the competition, investment, corporate governance and trade policy perspectives.  The report aims to sort fact from fiction, and develop a stronger understanding, based on empirical evidence, on how to address growing policy concerns with regard to SOE internationalisation. The report concludes that although there is no clear evidence of systematic abusive behaviour by SOE investors, frictions need to be addressed, in view of keeping the global economy open to trade and investment.

This report examines the key design and implementation features that need to be considered to ensure that biodiversity offset programmes are environmentally effective, economically efficient, and distributionally equitable. Biodiversity offsets are being increasingly used in a wide range of sectors as a mechanism to help compensate for the adverse effects caused by development projects in a variety of ecosystems. In this report, insights and lessons learned are drawn from more than 40 case studies from around the world, with an additional 3 in-depth country case studies from the United States, Germany and Mexico.

This publication helps policy makers to better understand annuity products and the guarantees they provide in order to optimise the role that these products can play in financing retirement. Product design is a crucial factor in the potential role of annuity products within the pension system, along with the cost and demand for these products, and the resulting risks that are borne by the annuity providers. Increasingly complex products, however, pose additional challenges concerning consumer protection. Consumers need to be aware of their options and have access to unbiased and comprehensible advice and information about these products.

The OECD Pensions Outlook 2016 assesses policy issues regarding strengthening pension systems and, in particular, funded pension plans.  It covers defined benefits and defined contribution pension plans; fiscal incentives to save for retirement; policy measures to improve the financial advice for retirement; annuity products and their guarantees; pension design and financial education; and the pension arrangements for public-sector workers, including a comparison with those for private sector workers.

A major challenge facing the Republic of Buryatia, subject of the Russian Federation, is how to balance the task of protecting Lake Baikal – a unique water object and ecological system included in the UNESCO list of World Natural Heritage Areas – with the need for dynamic and sustainable socio-economic development of the republic.  This requires streamlining and improving water policy jointly with economic, administrative, information and other policy instruments. The recommendations in this report aim to help achieve this objective. They include the introduction of abstraction charges for irrigation water as a  natural resource; enhancement of state support to the water sector; and improvement of economic instruments for managing risks of water-related hazards (such as compulsory insurance and differentiated land tax rates in flood prone areas). A few innovative instruments are also recommended for pilot testing such as establishing limits for discharges of certain hazardous substances in a pilot area (e.g. Selenga river basin) and progressive development of market for tradable quotas for discharges of the “capped” pollutants; and introducing a charge (tax) on toxic agricultural chemicals (pesticides, herbicides, etc.) and synthetic detergents so that to create incentives for the reduction of diffuse water pollution.

After decades of innovation, satellites now play a discrete but pivotal role in the efficient functioning of modern societies and their economic development. This publication provides the findings from a OECD Space Forum project on the state of innovation in the space sector, with a view to examine how space innovation may impact the larger economy. New analysis and indicators contribute to answering some of the following questions: is the space sector still a driver for innovation in the 21st century? What are the determinants for an innovative space sector? And what are the policy responses to encourage and harness better space-related innovation?

The outcome of COP21 urged developed countries to scale up their level of financial support, over and above their initial finance pledges, with a concrete roadmap to achieve their USD 100 billion a year commitment by 2020. This note provides analytical support to country preparation of such a roadmap, assessing the scale of future climate finance as well as identifying and discussing some key uncertainties. It sets out the resulting projections for climate finance in 2020 along with the underlying assumptions and methodologies.

Taking risks is a fundamental driving force in business and entrepreneurship. To reap the full rewards of risk-taking, however, firms need to have in place effective risk management practices. This publication provides a stocktaking of ways in which SOEs and those exercising the state’s ownership role address the issue of risk management from the perspective of corporate governance (“risk governance”), as recommended in the OECD Guidelines on Corporate Governance of State-Owned Enterprises. The report looks at this issue from three perspectives: by taking stock, first, of national legal and regulatory SOE risk management frameworks, and then by taking stock of risk-management practices at the level of the SOE and then at the level of the state.

The new OECD Guidelines on Corporate Governance of State-Owned Enterprises provide an internationally agreed benchmark to help governments assess and improve the way they exercise their ownership functions in state-owned enterprises. Good corporate governance of state-owned enterprises is a key reform priority in many countries. Improved efficiency and better transparency in the state owned sector will result in considerable economic gains, especially in countries where state ownership is important. In addition, creating a level playing field for private and state-owned enterprises will encourage a sound and competitive business sector. The Guidelines, first adopted in 2005, provide a set of good practices on the legal and regulatory framework for state-owned enterprises (SOEs), the professionalisation of the state ownership function and the corporate governance arrangements of SOEs. This new version of the recommendation was developed in the light of almost a decade of experiences with its implementation and a number of thematic and comparative studies, developed on the basis of the earlier version of the Guidelines, that showed the need for, and supported, their revision, including in areas such as disclosure and transparency, public-private competition, board practices and funding and financing of SOE.

Ukraine’s post-Maidan authorities have embarked upon an ambitious reform programme to improve the country’s framework for investment and strengthen the country as an attractive investment destination. This review, which was prepared in close cooperation with the Ukrainian authorities in response to their 2011 request to adhere to the Declaration on International Investment and Multinational Enterprises (OECD Declaration), analyses the general investment framework as well as recent reform, and shows where further efforts are necessary. It assesses Ukraine’s ability to comply with the principles of openness, transparency and non-discrimination and its policy convergence with international investment standards such as the OECD Declaration. In light of the recently updated OECD Policy Framework for Investment, it also studies other areas such as investment promotion and facilitation, infrastructure development; financial sector development and responsible business conduct practices. In the scarcely two years since a new attempt at economic reforms was launched in earnest, Ukraine has made quite important progress in introducing a modern legal framework for investment. But additional efforts are required in some policy areas to reaffirm Ukraine’s attractiveness for investors.
 

The new OECD Guidelines on Corporate Governance of State-Owned Enterprises provide an internationally agreed benchmark to help governments assess and improve the way they exercise their ownership functions in state-owned enterprises. Good corporate governance of state-owned enterprises is a key reform priority in many countries. Improved efficiency and better transparency in the state owned sector will result in considerable economic gains, especially in countries where state ownership is important. In addition, creating a level playing field for private and state-owned enterprises will encourage a sound and competitive business sector. The Guidelines, first adopted in 2005, provide a set of good practices on the legal and regulatory framework for state-owned enterprises (SOEs), the professionalisation of the state ownership function and the corporate governance arrangements of SOEs. This new version of the recommendation was developed in the light of almost a decade of experiences with its implementation and a number of thematic and comparative studies, developed on the basis of the earlier version of the Guidelines, that showed the need for, and supported, their revision, including in areas such as disclosure and transparency, public-private competition, board practices and funding and financing of SOE.

Ce rapport surveille l’accès des PME et des entrepreneurs à des financements dans 37 pays, tout au long de la période 2007-14, en prenant l’année 2007 – antérieure à la crise – comme référence. Il propose des indicateurs relatifs à l’endettement, aux fonds propres, au nantissement d’actifs et aux conditions-cadres du financement des PME et de l’entrepreneuriat, que viennent compléter d’autres sources d’information et de récentes initiatives publiques et privées en faveur du financement des PME. Pris ensemble, ces indicateurs composent un cadre complet permettant aux pouvoirs publics et à d’autres parties prenantes d’évaluer les besoins de financement des PME et d’en apprécier la prise en compte.

The OECD Sovereign Borrowing Outlook provides regular updates on trends and developments associated with sovereign borrowing requirements, funding strategies, market infrastructure and debt levels from the perspective of public debt managers. The Outlook makes a policy distinction between funding strategy and borrowing requirements. The central government marketable gross borrowing needs, or requirements, are calculated on the basis of budget deficits and redemptions. The funding strategy entails decisions on how borrowing needs are going to be financed using different instruments and which distribution channels are being used. This edition provides data, information and background on sovereign borrowing needs and discusses funding strategies and debt management policies for the OECD area and country groupings. In particular, it examines: gross borrowing requirements; net borrowing requirements; central government marketable debt; interactions between fiscal policy, public debt management and monetary policy; funding strategies, procedures and instruments; the impact of new regulations on primary market operations; liquidity in secondary markets; and the transparency of public debt statistics, operations and policies.

Las nuevas Directrices de la OCDE sobre el Gobierno Corporativo de las Empresas Públicas proporcionan una referencia internacionalmente acordada que permite a los Estados evaluar y mejorar la forma en que ejercen su función de propiedad en las empresas públicas. La reforma del buen gobierno corporativo de las empresas públicas es una cuestión clave y prioritaria en muchos países. Mejorar la eficiencia y la transparencia del sector público redundará en beneficios económicos considerables, especialmente en aquellos países donde el tamaño de este sector es importante. Además, la creación de condiciones igualitarias para las empresas públicas y privadas fomentará la existencia de un sector empresarial sólido y competitivo. Las Directrices se adoptaron por primera vez en 2005 y proporcionan un conjunto de buenas prácticas para el marco jurídico y regulatorio de las empresas públicas, la profesionalización de la función de la propiedad pública y los mecanismos de gobierno corporativo de estas empresas. Esta nueva versión de la recomendación fue elaborada con vistas a reflejar casi una década de experiencia en su aplicación, así como una serie de estudios temáticos y comparativos (realizados sobre la base de la versión anterior de las Directrices), que mostraron la necesidad de llevar a cabo su revisión, en particular en materias tales como publicidad y transparencia, competencia entre empresas públicas y privadas, prácticas de administración y financiación de las empresas públicas.

Disasters present a broad range of human, social, financial, economic and environmental impacts, with potentially long-lasting, multi-generational effects. The financial management of these impacts is a key challenge for individuals and governments in developed and developing countries. G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors and APEC Finance Ministers have recognised the importance and priority of disaster risk management strategies and, in particular, disaster risk assessment and risk financing. The OECD has supported the development of strategies for the financial management of natural and man-made disaster risks, under the guidance of the OECD High-Level Advisory Board on Financial Management of Large-scale Catastrophes and the OECD Insurance and Private Pensions Committee. This work has included the elaboration of an OECD Recommendation on Good Practices for Mitigating and Financing Catastrophic Risks and a draft Recommendation on Disaster Risk Financing Strategies  The Financial Management of Flood Risk extends this work by applying the lessons from the OECD’s analysis of disaster risk financing practices and the development of its guidance to the specific case of floods.

Costly and lengthy regulatory barriers, accompanied by sluggish markets, have long been reasons for companies and their shareholders to look for alternatives to Initial Public Offerings (IPOs). A popular alternative has often been to pursue backdoor listing – often accomplished through a reverse merger, exchange offer, or rights offer, for instance. Because backdoor listings are often not under the strict oversight of listing rules and regulations, it is argued that they are prone to fraud and abuse. This report provides four regulatory strategies for consideration by policy makers in Indonesia, in order to support their efforts to improve listing and corporate governance standards.