The global economic outlook has brightened as vaccine rollouts gain speed and the United States launches a vast new stimulus package, the OECD said on Tuesday, hiking its forecasts.
5 Min Read
(Thomson Reuters Foundation) - A former Australian finance minister vying to become the new head of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) said he would pursue an “ambitious” and “global” approach to help nations become carbon-neutral by 2050.
Mathias Cormann, Australia’s longest-serving finance minister until last year, is one of two candidates hoping to take over as OECD secretary-general from outgoing Angel Gurría.
But last week, the heads of about 30 Australian and global charities and research institutions signed a letter urging the Paris-based organisation to drop Cormann from the race, saying he had a public record of “thwarting effective climate action”.
3 Min Read
PARIS (Reuters) - The huge public deficits that have piled up as governments bail out their pandemic-hit economies are prompting the first rethink of a four-decade decline in corporate tax rates worldwide.
FILE PHOTO: A person jogs, with financial district in the background, amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, in London, Britain, January 5, 2021. REUTERS/Henry Nicholls/File Photo
Britain may be first to see the tide turn as soon as Wednesday when finance minister Rishi Sunak is widely expected to announce a small increase in corporate levies in his budget announcement to help pay for the hit from COVID-19.
By Megan Rowling, Thomson Reuters Foundation
7 Min Read Washington working on a new climate finance plan under Biden Wealthy governments have fallen short on 2020 finance promise to climate-vulnerable nations
BARCELONA, Feb 19 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - As the United States officially re-enters the Paris climate accord on Friday, expectations are rising that Washington will step up funding to help poor countries adopt clean energy and adapt to more extreme weather as the planet warms.
Under climate-change sceptic Donald Trump, the U.S. government did provide finance for things like building solar power systems in Africa and protecting people from storms and floods in Asia, as part of its international development aid.