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This document is the peer review report of the National Contact Point (NCP) of Portugal. The objectives of NCP peer reviews are to assess to what extent the NCP is functioning and operating in accordance with the core effectiveness criteria set out in the implementation procedures; to identify the NCP’s strengths and possibilities for improvement; to make recommendations for improvement; and to serve as a learning tool for all NCPs involved. The peer review of the NCP of Portugal was conducted by a team of reviewers from the NCPs of Chile and Spain, along with representatives of the OECD Secretariat.

Central Asia's trade performance has displayed remarkable resilience to recent economic shocks. Nevertheless, the region’s dependence on a limited number of export commodities and a narrow range of trading partners exposes it to significant risks. Central Asian governments are therefore prioritising improved connectivity to integrate better into global value chains, reduce geographical disadvantages, and increase imports and exports. Trade facilitation plays a pivotal role in achieving these goals by reducing trade costs and fostering integration. However, Central Asia still faces substantial challenges, and, despite significant improvements in recent years, it falls behind most of the regions covered by the OECD's Trade Facilitation Indicators (TFI). This report takes stock of TFI progress in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan, presents preliminary results for Turkmenistan for the first time, and showcases areas of TFI improvement. It also evaluates remaining trade barriers and provides recommendations to for trade facilitation reforms, including the need to prioritise trade community feedback to streamline procedures, digitalise and harmonise standards, and implement systemic border agency co-operation mechanisms. A co-ordinated approach to improving trade facilitation across the region could reduce trade costs substantially, lifting both trade turnover and growth.

While Central Asia has proven relatively resilient to the shocks of COVID-19, China’s slowdown and Russia’s war in Ukraine, declining trend rates of growth across the region, lacklustre productivity performance and lingering global uncertainty underscore the need to address weaknesses in the business and investment climate. The implementation of predictable rules, the creation of a level-playing field between firms and greater competition in markets, in particular, could encourage both local entrepreneurs and foreign investors to invest and grow in the region. This report presents an assessment of progress since the 2019-2020 analysis of the legal environment for business and investment in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan against the backdrop of the changing international context brought about by COVID and the war.

The SME Policy Index: Eastern Partner Countries 2024 – Building resilience in challenging times is a unique benchmarking tool to assess and monitor progress in the design and implementation of SME policies against EU and international best practice. It embraces the priorities laid out in the European Union’s SME Strategy for a sustainable and digital Europe and is structured around the ten principles of the Small Business Act for Europe, which provide a wide range of measures to guide the design and implementation of SME policies. This report marks the fourth edition in this series, following assessments in 2012, 2016, and 2020. It tracks progress made since 2020 and offers the latest key findings on SME development and related policies in the countries of the Eastern Partnership (EaP). It also identifies emerging challenges affecting SMEs in the region and provides recommendations to address them. The 2024 edition benefits from an updated methodology that also offers a deeper analysis of policies to support the digital transformation of SMEs.

Хотя Центральная Азия оказалась относительно устойчивой к потрясениям COVID-19, замедлению темпов роста в Китае и войне России на Украине, снижение темпов роста в регионе, низкая производительность труда и сохраняющаяся глобальная неопределенность указывают на необходимость устранения недостатков делового и инвестиционного климата. Внедрение предсказуемых правил, создание равных условий для компаний и усиление конкуренции на рынках, в частности, может стимулировать как местных предпринимателей, так и иностранных инвесторов к инвестированию и развитию в регионе. В настоящем отчете представлена оценка прогресса, достигнутого после проведения в 2019-2020 гг. анализа правовой среды для бизнеса и инвестиций в Казахстане, Кыргызстане, Таджикистане, Туркменистане и Узбекистане на фоне изменения международного контекста, вызванного COVID-19 и войной.

Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine and the ensuing sanctions greatly complicated overland freight transport between Europe and China via the so-called Northern Corridor, which runs through the Russian Federation. This has prompted renewed attention to the development of the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route, a multimodal route running through Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Türkiye – the so-called “Middle Corridor”. The present report looks at the Middle Corridor’s potential and at the challenges that must be overcome to realise it, drawing on the perspective of relevant private-sector actors in the four Middle Corridor countries. Governments along the corridor have invested heavily to improve transport infrastructure, yet important bottlenecks remain due to the geography of the route, the number of border crossings and the lack of regional trade integration. This study, based on surveys from and interviews with the private sector, maps and sequences main reform priorities in relation to regional integration, infrastructure, trade facilitation and supra-national coordination. It suggests that the primary aim should be to develop the corridor not solely as a transit route for actors from outside the region but as an engine of integration and trade integration in Central Asia and the South Caucasus.

Показатели торговли Центральной Азии демонстрируют удивительную устойчивость к недавним экономическим потрясениям. Тем не менее, зависимость региона от ограниченного числа экспортных товаров и узкого круга торговых партнеров подвергает его значительным рискам. Поэтому правительства стран Центральной Азии уделяют первостепенное внимание улучшению транспортной доступности, чтобы лучше интегрироваться в глобальные цепочки создания стоимости, уменьшить географические неудобства и увеличить объем импорта и экспорта. Упрощение торговых процедур играет ключевую роль в достижении этих целей, снижая торговые издержки и способствуя интеграции. Однако Центральная Азия по-прежнему сталкивается с серьезными проблемами, и, несмотря на значительные улучшения, произошедшие за последние годы, она отстает от большинства регионов, охваченных Индикаторами ОЭСР по упрощению торговли (ИУТ). В настоящем отчете подводится итог прогресса ИУТ в Казахстане, Кыргызстане, Таджикистане и Узбекистане, впервые представлены предварительные результаты по Туркменистану и показаны области ИУТ, в которых возможно улучшение. В докладе также дается оценка сохраняющихся торговых барьеров и приводятся рекомендации по реформированию системы содействия торговле, включая необходимость приоритетного учета мнения торговых кругов для оптимизации процедур, цифровизации и гармонизации стандартов, а также внедрения системных механизмов сотрудничества с пограничными службами. Скоординированный подход к совершенствованию системы упрощения процедур торговли в регионе может существенно снизить торговые издержки, что приведет к росту товарооборота и темпов роста

Under the BEPS Action 5 minimum standard, members of the OECD/G20 Inclusive Framework on Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) have committed to counter harmful tax practices with a focus on improving transparency. One part of the Action 5 minimum standard is the transparency framework for compulsory spontaneous exchange of information on certain tax rulings. The exchange on tax rulings is a critical tool in improving access of tax administrations to information relevant to assess the corporate tax affairs of their taxpayers and to efficiently tackle tax avoidance and other BEPS risks. Over 140 countries and jurisdictions participate in the Inclusive Framework on BEPS and take part in the peer review process to assess their compliance with the transparency framework. Specific terms of reference and a methodology have been agreed for the peer reviews, focusing the assessment on five key elements: information gathering process, exchange of information, confidentiality of the information received, statistics on the exchanges on rulings, and transparency on certain aspects of intellectual property regimes. This report reflects the outcome of the seventh annual peer review of the implementation of the Action 5 minimum standard.

This report, jointly developed by the European Observatory, OECD, and WHO Europe, serves as a proof of concept for a Health Systems Performance Assessment (HSPA) dashboard. HSPA is pivotal for health system transformation, providing policymakers with key indicators to identify and address system performance issues. This brief represents a step towards more policy-friendly dashboards, emphasizing the need for a focused set of HSPA indicators aligned with policy goals. The brief highlights the alignment and complementarity of the WHO-Observatory global HSPA framework and OECD's renewed framework, which aid policymakers in navigating health systems with actionable, policy-relevant indicators. These frameworks establish connections between performance indicators, health system functions, and overarching goals, supporting a coherent policy dashboard. Tracer indicators, like workforce, digital health, and service delivery outcomes, are emphasized as crucial for assessing key policy areas. The report underscores the importance of investing in data collection and infrastructure at national and international levels to make HSPA effective. It advocates for continuous improvement and collaboration among major international organizations, including WHO, OECD, EU, and the Observatory, to align methodologies and support informed policy decision-making.

Over the past few decades, economies and technologies have changed in ways that have made people’s economic prospects more insecure. While non-standard work and digital transformation have created opportunities for many, they have also exposed individuals to fluctuations in their incomes, known as "income instability", as have major recent shocks. Recognising that individuals’ jobs and circumstances can change multiple times in a year, this report uses novel techniques to identify who is most exposed to income instability in European OECD countries and examines the effects it has on their lives, social mobility, and inequality. Income instability can be difficult to manage for individuals who lack the financial resources to smooth their incomes. In this report, people facing the twin problems of exposure and vulnerability to income instability are considered to be economically insecure. Economic insecurity falls predominantly on people with weak attachments to the labour force and on those who are not well-placed to leverage the benefits of digitalisation. People at risk of economic insecurity are more likely to worry about losing their jobs in the future than economically secure individuals and, as shown in other research, experience poor health, food insecurity, and poor childhood development outcomes, which can impede social mobility. Finally, the report reviews a range of policies to improve the timeliness of social protection to better support people with highly unstable incomes and explores options to help those most at risk of economic insecurity build financial buffers.

L'élaboration des politiques a toujours consisté à faire des choix, gérer des compromis et équilibrer plusieurs objectifs et priorités pour la prise de décisions budgétaires complexes. Pourtant, ces dernières années, les décideurs politiques ont été confrontés à un nombre croissant de priorités, d'où une pression plus forte pour améliorer l'efficacité des dépenses publiques. Il existe de solides arguments en faveur d'un investissement public dans une éducation de haute qualité du fait de ses résultats économiques ainsi qu'aux retombées sociales plus générales pour les individus et la société. Mais alors qu'une éducation de haute qualité continuera à permettre aux individus et aux sociétés de prospérer et de se remettre des perturbations, les ministères de l'éducation devront repenser leur façon d'investir dans l'éducation pour garantir l'optimisation de l’utilisation de ces ressources. Après une introduction exposant le contexte, cette publication fait le point sur les rendements économiques et les résultats sociaux plus larges dérivés d'une éducation de qualité, plaidant en faveur de la poursuite des investissements publics. Elle se tourne ensuite vers l'examen des moyens intelligents d'investir dans l'éducation et examine les principaux leviers politiques pour optimiser l’utilisation des ressources: gérer et distribuer le financement des écoles pour tirer le meilleur parti des investissements éducatifs ; parvenir à l’équité parallèlement à une plus grande efficacité ; et la planification, le suivi et l'évaluation de l'utilisation efficace du financement des écoles.

The Government of Australia has made improving gender equality one of its core priorities, recognising the potential social and economic benefits that it can bring. This OECD Review assists Australia in embedding gender considerations in policy and budget decisions. It draws upon best practices across OECD countries and sets out a series of actions to enable the federal government to strengthen gender impact assessments and gender budgeting. This will help target government policy and resources towards better and fairer social and economic outcomes.

This edition of Pension Markets in Focus provides detailed and comparable statistics on asset-backed pension systems around the world, with data from January to December 2022. It examines the drivers of changes in total assets accumulated, including contributions and benefits paid, as well as financial market developments. In addition, the report assesses the financial sustainability of defined benefit plans (guaranteeing specific payments to plan members) and documents the fees paid by members.

The Civic Space Review of Portugal provides an in-depth analysis of the national legal frameworks, policies, institutions, and practices relevant to civic space protection, with an emphasis on harnessing user input to facilitate people-centred public service reforms. The Review assesses three key areas: 1) protecting the civic freedoms and information environment that create the conditions for public service reforms; 2) strengthening stakeholder and citizen participation in the process; and 3) moving towards more inclusive, accessible and people-centred public service design and delivery. The two case studies and concrete recommendations in the review offer a tangible path towards more inclusive, participatory public services that place citizens at their core.