Three years after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, countries in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) are still dealing with its economic consequences. Currently, one of the main points of concern is the excessive level of public indebtedness and the risk it represents to economic stability and economic growth.
Fiscal rules have become a common policy tool to promote the sustainability of public finances, as the number of countries with at least one fiscal rule has grown from ten in 1991 to more than 100 by 2021. Although fiscal rules promise to support fiscal discipline and maintain debt sustainability, their track record is often mixed, as simply adopting a fiscal rule does not necessarily guarantee improved fiscal performance.
The COVID-19 pandemic had a very large impact on government finances. As governments saw their revenues reduced and their expenditures increased to cope with the health and social emergencies, the public debt rapidly mounted. By the end of 2020, the debt-to-GDP ratios had increased by 10 percentage points (pp) compared to pre pandemic levels in the average emerging economies.
In many countries, state-owned enterprises (SOEs) play a key economic role, either as providers of fundamental public services or generating fiscal revenues by controlling strategic assets. To better achieve the objectives for which they were created, SOEs need to use their resources efficiently and effectively. As a result, how governments monitor and govern these institutions is an important element for their success.
Public procurement accounts for around 13-20% of global GDP, so it has the potential to be an important tool for governments to promote gender equality.
All countries in the region have signed the Paris Agreement, which aims to increase countries' resilience and adaptive capacity, as well as stabilize global warming below 2°C and as close to 1.5°C as possible.
Digital transformation is changing how government agencies relate to citizens, allowing them to meet their constituents' needs faster, fairer, and more transparently. One promising area for governments is the creation of Tax Administrations 3.0 by using digital technologies to provide a more seamless and frictionless service for citizens and firms.
Over the past two decades, a growing number of Latin American and Caribbean (LAC) countries began adopting fiscal rules to limit overspending influenced by election cycles, public pressure, and other political economy factors, helping the region strengthen its fiscal solvency and sustainability.
A recent report released by the World Meteorological Organizationpaints a devastating picture of extreme weather events and the effects of climate change in Latin America and the Caribbean. Throughout the region, floods, droughts, heat waves, and hurricanes are killing hundreds of people, inflicting severe damage on infrastructure, and displacing population.
In the fourth quarter of 2021, 137 countries reached a ground-breaking agreement on the reform of international aspects of Corporate Income Tax (CIT) within the OECD-coordinated Inclusive Framework (IF) on BEPS (Base Erosion and Profit Shifting). Thirty-one of these are Latin American and Caribbean (LAC) countries, and they are currently working to ensure that the voluntary political agreement translates into international conventions and domestic legislation so that the package can take effect in 2024 as announced recently by OECD in Davos.