Browse by: "2017"

The Economic Outlook for Southeast Asia, China and India is a bi-annual publication on regional economic growth, development and regional integration in Emerging Asia. It focuses on the economic conditions of Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) member countries: Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Viet Nam. It also addresses relevant economic issues in China and India to fully reflect economic developments in the region. The 2017 edition of the Outlook comprises four main parts, each highlighting a particular dimension of recent economic developments in the region. The first part presents the regional economic monitor, depicting the near-term and medium-term economic outlooks, as well as macroeconomic and regional integration challenges in the region. The second part discusses the recent progress made in key aspects of regional integration. The third part presents this edition's special focus: addressing energy challenges and renewable energy development in particular. The fourth part includes structural policy country notes offering specific recommendations.

This annual publication provides comprehensive data on the volume, origin and types of aid and other resource flows to around 150 developing countries. The data show each country's intake of official development assistance and well as other official and private funds from members of the Development Assistance Committee of the OECD, multilateral agencies and other key donors.  Key development indicators are given for reference.

The ITF Transport Outlook provides an overview of recent trends and near-term prospects for the transport sector at a global level, as well as long-term prospects for transport demand to 2050, for freight (maritime, air and surface), passenger transport (car, rail and air) and CO2 emissions. This edition looks at how the main policy, economic and technological changes since 2015, along with other international developments (such as the Sustainable Development Goals), are shaping the future of mobility, and presents alternative policy scenarios for long-term trends in transport demand and CO2 emissions from all transport modes, freight and passenger. A special focus on accessibility in cities also highlights the role of policies in shaping sustainable transport systems that provide equal access to all.

Financial reporting is one of the foundations of good fiscal management. High-quality financial reports are essential to ensure that a government’s fiscal decisions are based on the most up-to-date and accurate understanding of its financial position. Financial reports are also the mechanism through which legislatures, auditors, and the public at large hold governments accountable for their financial performance. Over the past two decades, a growing number of governments have begun moving away from pure cash accounting toward accrual accounting to improve transparency and accountability and better inform fiscal decision making. This study reviews and compares accounting and budgeting practices at the national government level in OECD countries. It also discusses both the challenges and benefits of accruals reforms. Finally, it looks at some steps countries are taking to make better use of accrual information in the future. This is a joint publication with the International Federation of Accountants and the OECD.

This report describes the development of the green bond market as an innovative instrument for green finance, and provides a review of policy actions and options to promote further market development and growth. Since 2007-08, so-called “green bonds” have emerged and the market has risen from USD 3 billion in 2011 to USD 95 billion in issuance in 2016. For policy makers, the report proposes a framework for understanding potential directions of bond market evolution, increased convergence of rules and definitions, and quantitative analysis of the potential contribution that bond markets can make to a low-carbon transition.

Financing SMEs and Entrepreneurs 2017 provides information on debt, equity, asset-based finance, and framework conditions for SME and entrepreneurship finance, complemented with an overview of recent policy measures to support access to finance in 39 countries. The sixth instalment of this annual publication provides a solid evidence base to improve SME policy making. Almost a decade after the financial crisis, the financing situation of SMEs and entrepreneurs has generally improved in 2015 and the first half of 2016 in most participating countries, and indicates a more favourable business environment. While alternative sources of financing are gaining some traction, SMEs nevertheless remain very reliant on bank lending, making them vulnerable to credit market conditions and the economic climate.

This report analyses Greek legislation in a number of sectors and identifies about 350 legal provisions which could be removed or amended to lift regulatory barriers to competition. The work undertaken in the project has involved the review of over 1 200 pieces of legislation in these sectors of the economy, using the OECD Competition Assessment Toolkit. The analysis of the legislation and of the Greek sectors has been complemented by research into international experience and consultation with stakeholders from the public and private sectors. The OECD has developed recommendations to remove or modify the provisions in order to be less restrictive for suppliers and consumers, while still achieving Greek policy makers’ initial objectives. If these recommendations are implemented, benefits to consumers in Greece and to the Greek economy should arise in all sectors. Throughout this report, the authors identify the sources of those benefits and, where possible, provide quantitative estimates.

India’s economy continues to grow at an impressive rate, with projected annual GDP growth of 7.5% in 2017-18. India will thus remain the fastest-growing G20 economy. Unprecedented growth in exports in services since the 1990s has made India a global leader in this sector. Inflows of foreign direct investment (FDI) grew at three times the annual world average rate in the last decade, reflecting the success of efforts to attract international investment and gradually loosen restrictions to foreign investment. India’s economic successes are being translated into increased well-being for its population. As GDP per capita has more than doubled in ten years, extreme poverty has declined substantially. Access to education has steadily improved, and life expectancy has risen. Multiple opportunities present themselves for India, and the right mix of policies is needed to take advantage of them. India has made advances in integrating in global value chains and developing a competitive advantage in fields such as information and communication technology. Now is the time to secure continued progress by boosting competition and further lowering barriers to trade and investment. Looking to the future, it will be vital to fully tap into the potential offered by India´s young population. This means investing in the large numbers of young people entering the labour market. Likewise, the rapid pace of development must be matched with the upgrades to infrastructure necessary to support it.

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.

This report presents a comprehensive overview of recent and longer-term trends in productivity levels and growth in OECD countries, accession countries, key partners and some G20 countries. It includes measures of labour productivity, capital productivity and multifactor productivity, as well as indicators of international competitiveness. A special chapter analyses how productivity and wages have evolved in the post-crisis period, while describing the major challenges in measuring the wage-productivity gap and the labour income share.

This report provides an assessment of how governments can generate inclusive economic growth in the short term, while making progress towards climate goals to secure sustainable long-term growth. It describes the development pathways required to meet the Paris Agreement objectives and underlines the value of well-aligned policy packages in mobilising investment and social support for the transition while enhancing growth. The report also sets out the structural, financial and political changes needed to enable the transition.

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; liquidity in secondary markets; implications of a low interest environment for government debt; and the outlook of inflation linked bonds.

The OECD Business and Finance Outlook is an annual publication that presents unique data and analysis that looks at what might affect and change, both favourably and unfavourably, tomorrow’s world of business, finance and investment. Using analysis from a wide range of perspectives, this year’s edition addresses some forces influencing economic developments that have contributed to recent surprises in elections and referendums. A common theme of these surprises has been voter discontent with globalisation and immigration that are perceived to be causes of unemployment and falling living standards for substantial segments of society in a number of OECD countries. This Outlook’s focus is on ways to enhance “fairness”, in the sense of strengthening global governance, to ensure a level playing field in trade, investment and corporate behaviour, through the setting and better enforcement of global standards. A brief review of important developments contributing to post-war globalisation is provided and a number of policy domains are covered. These include exchange rates and capital account management, financial regulation since the global financial crisis, the rising weight of state-owned enterprises in the world economy, competition policy to deal with international cartels, the cost of raising capital, responsible business conduct and bribery and corruption.

The OECD’s New Approaches to Economic Challenges (NAEC) initiative invited experts from inside and outside the Organisation to discuss complexity theory as a means to better understand the interconnected nature of the trends and influences shaping our socio-economic environment. Their contributions, brought together here, examine the assumptions, strengths and shortcomings of traditional models, and propose a way to build new ones that would take into account factors such as psychology, history and culture neglected by these models. The authors concentrate on the discipline of economics as such; the financial system; and applications of complexity theory to policy making and governance. They argue that a new narrative is needed to integrate the hopes, values, attitudes and behaviours of people into economics along with the facts and data economists are more used to dealing with.

Les investisseurs institutionnels (sociétés d’assurance, sociétés d’investissement et fonds de pension) sont les principaux collecteurs de l’épargne et émetteurs de fonds sur les marchés financiers. Leur rôle en tant qu’intermédiaires financiers et leur impact sur les stratégies d’investissement se sont accrus de façon significative au cours des dernières années avec la déréglementation et la mondialisation des marchés financiers.
Cette publication constitue un ensemble unique d'indicateurs reflétant le niveau et la structure des actifs et passifs financiers des investisseurs institutionnels dans les pays de l'OCDE (à l'exception de l'Australie et de la République slovaque) et dans la Lituanie et la Fédération de Russie. Les concepts et les définitions reposent essentiellement sur le système de comptabilité nationale. Les données proviennent des sources nationales.
Les données se rapportent aux encours d’actifs et passifs financiers tels que numéraire et dépôts, titres, crédits, et actions. Lorsque c’est pertinent, les données sont ventilées selon leur maturité et résidence. La publication couvre les fonds d'investissement, dont les fonds à capital variable et ceux à capital fixe, ainsi que les sociétés d'assurance et les fonds de pension autonomes. Les indicateurs sont présentés en pourcentage du PIB pour les comparaisons internationales, et au niveau de chaque pays, à la fois en monnaie nationale et en pourcentage du total des actifs financiers de l’investisseur. Les séries temporelles présentent les données disponibles pour les 8 dernières années.
 

This book synthesises recent work by the OECD analysing services trade policies and quantifying their impacts on imports and exports, the performance of manufacturing and services sectors, and how services trade restrictions influence the decisions and outcomes of firms engaged in international markets. Based on the OECD Services Trade Restrictiveness Index (STRI) - a unique, evidence-based tool that provides snapshots of regulations affecting trade in services in 22 sectors across 44 countries (representing over 80% of global trade in services) - the analysis highlights the magnitude, nature and impact of the costs entailed by restrictive services trade policies. The new evidence uncovered is meant to inform trade policy makers and the private sector about the likely effects of unilateral or concerted regulatory reforms and help prioritise policy action.