06/10/2021 – OECD Ministers have issued a joint statement at the conclusion of this week’s Council meeting at Ministerial level.  Under the chairmanship of the United States, with Korea and Luxembourg as vice-chairs, Members met for discussions around the theme “Shared Values: Building a Green and Inclusive Future”.

Read the final statement from the Ministerial meeting.

The Ministerial Council Meeting (MCM) is the OECD’s highest-level forum, attended by ministers of finance, economy, foreign affairs, trade and other government departments from the Organisation’s Member and Partner countries, as well as by representatives of other International Organisations.

During the two-day meeting, Ministers welcomed:

–          the Indicator Dashboard to Guide a Strong, Resilient, Green and Inclusive Post-COVID-19 Recovery

–          the International Programme for Action on Climate (IPAC) Preliminary Dashboard;

–          the Policy Framework for Gender-sensitive Public Governance;

–          and the Report on the implementation of the Recommendation of the Council on Integrated Mental Health, Skills and Work Policy.

Additionally, Ministers adopted:

–          the OECD’s 60th Anniversary Vision Statement;

–          the OECD’s Global Relations Strategy;

–          the Recommendation of the Council on Enhancing Access to and Sharing of Data;

–          the Recommendation of the Council on Transparency and Procedural Fairness in Competition Law Enforcement;

–          the Recommendation for Agile Regulatory Governance to Harness Innovation;

–          and the 2021 Ministerial Council Statement.

More detailed information and supporting documents on meeting outcomes and key issues will be available on the Ministerial Council Meeting website at http://www.oecd.org/mcm/. 

Additional background is also available across the OECD platform:

Working with over 100 countries, the OECD is a global policy forum that promotes policies to preserve individual liberty and improve the economic and social well-being of people around the world.

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17/09/2021 –

Climate finance for developing countries rose to USD 79.6 billion in 2019 – OECD

Climate finance provided and mobilised by developed countries for developing countries totalled USD 79.6 billion in 2019, up 2% from 78.3 billion in 2018, according to new figures from the OECD.

The small increase was driven by a rise in public climate finance provided by multilateral institutions, while bilateral public climate finance commitments dropped, as did climate finance mobilised from private sources.

Climate Finance Provided and Mobilised by Developed Countries: Aggregate trends updated with 2019 data is the OECD’s fourth assessment of progress towards the UNFCCC goal of mobilising USD 100 billion per year by 2020 to help developing countries tackle and adapt to climate change.  

“Climate finance continued to grow in 2019 but developed countries remain USD 20 billion short of meeting the 2020 goal of mobilising USD 100 billion,” OECD Secretary-General Mathias Cormann said.

“The limited progress in overall climate finance volumes between 2018 and 2019 is disappointing, particularly ahead of COP26. While appropriately verified data for 2020 will not be available until early next year it is clear that that climate finance will remain well short of its target. More needs to be done. We know that donor countries recognise this, with Canada and Germany now taking forward a delivery plan for mobilising the additional finance required to reach the USD 100bn a year goal.”

The report finds that public climate finance from developed countries reached USD 62.9 billion in 2019. Bilateral public climate finance accounted for USD 28.8 billion, down 10% from 2018, and multilateral public climate finance attributed to developed countries accounted for USD 34.1 billion, up by 15% from 2018. The level of private climate finance mobilised was down 4% at USD 14.0 billion in 2019, after USD 14.6 billion in 2018. Climate-related export credits remained small at USD 2.6 billion, accounting for just 3% of total climate finance.

The report also shows that out of the overall climate finance in 2019, 25% went to adaptation (up from 21% in 2018), 64% went to climate change mitigation activities (down from 70% in 2019), and the remainder to crosscutting activities. More than half of total climate finance targeted economic infrastructure – mostly energy and transport – with most of the remainder going to agriculture and social infrastructure, notably water and sanitation.

Asia has been the main beneficiary of climate finance over 2016-19 with 43% of the total on average, followed by Africa (26%) and the Americas (17%). Climate finance for Least Developed Countries rose strongly in 2019 (up 27% on 2018) but funding for Small Island Developing States fell back to 2017 levels (from USD 2.1 billion to 1.5 billion) after a temporary increase in 2018.

This data confirm that SIDS face specific challenges in accessing climate finance. The international community needs to consider financing for climate that is appropriate for the challenges that SIDS face, less fragmented, easier to access, predictable and long-term.

Mr Cormann emphasised that, “It is more urgent than ever that developed countries step up their efforts to deliver finance for climate action in developing countries, particularly to support poor and vulnerable countries to build resilience against the growing impacts of climate change.”

In terms of public finance instruments, public grant financing jumped by 30% from 2018 to reach USD 16.7 billion in 2019, after having remained stable the three previous years. In contrast, the volume of public loans, which had increased significantly up to 2018, fell by 5% in 2019. As a result, the share of grants in overall public climate finance was 27% in 2019, while loans (both concessional and non-concessional) represented 71%.  

Note to Editors

At the 15th Conference of Parties (COP15) of the UNFCCC in Copenhagen in 2009, developed countries committed to a collective goal of mobilising USD 100 billion per year by 2020 for climate action in developing countries. The goal was formalised at COP16 in Cancun, and at COP21 in Paris, it was reiterated and extended to 2025.

At the request of donor countries, the OECD produces regular analysis of progress towards this goal based on a robust accounting framework, consistent with the COP24 outcome agreed by all Parties to the Paris Agreement as regards funding sources and financial instruments. The OECD figures capture four distinct components of climate finance provided and mobilised by developed countries: bilateral public climate finance, multilateral public climate finance attributed to developed countries, climate-related officially supported export credits, and private finance mobilised by bilateral and multilateral public climate finance, attributed to developed countries.

Due to time lags in official reporting of the various datasets, data for 2020 will not be available before 2022. At that point, a thorough analysis will be conducted to inform the period to 2025 and assess the extent to which the COVID-19 crisis may have affected climate finance flows. Meanwhile the 2021 update report adds 2019 to the 2013-18 series and adds data for US bilateral public climate finance in 2018. This data was previously unavailable and had been estimated as the average level of US bilateral public climate finance over 2016-17. Actual US bilateral public climate finance in 2018 was USD 0.6 billion lower than this estimate.

The year-on-year time series is consistent from 2013 to 2019 for bilateral and multilateral public climate finance and export credits, however data for private climate finance from 2016 on are not directly comparable with those for 2013-14 due to the application of improved methodology and a resulting gap in the time series in 2015.

For further information journalists are invited to contact Catherine Bremer in the OECD Media Office (+33 1 45 24 80 97).

Working with over 100 countries, the OECD is a global policy forum that promotes policies to preserve individual liberty and improve the economic and social well-being of people around the world.

12/08/2021 – The Malaysian economy is on the road to recovery from COVID-19, although risks remain from the ongoing crisis. A return, over time, to pre-pandemic growth rates will require continued reforms to improve the business environment further, and accelerate digitalisation, according to a new OECD report.

The OECD’s third Economic Survey of Malaysia says high unemployment in the wake of the crisis poses a challenge, along with weak productivity growth. In the short-term, accelerating the vaccination programme is crucial. Policy support for people and firms should continue until the recovery is well-established. Malaysia should then resume its pre-pandemic efforts to boost productivity by easing regulatory and administrative burdens and accelerating firms’ adoption of digital technologies.

Over the medium-term, a fiscal consolidation strategy will be vital to reduce public debt and prepare for growing health and economic costs from Malaysia’s ageing population.

“Malaysia is a business-friendly country, which attracts large flows of foreign direct investment and is well-integrated in global value chains. Nonetheless, further reforms to ease regulation and expand the digital economy will be essential to drive growth in the post-pandemic world and to ensure Malaysia fully benefits from today’s digital opportunities,” OECD Secretary-General Mathias Cormann said, presenting the Survey alongside Malaysia’s Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department for Economic Affairs, Mustapa Mohamed. (Read the full speech).

Malaysia was experiencing solid growth prior to the pandemic. With sales of electronic and health-related goods bouncing back, and policy support propping up domestic demand, the Survey projects GDP growth to rebound to 4.3% in 2021 and 6.1% in 2022, following a drop in economic activity of 5.6% in 2020.

The economic blow from COVID-19 hit small firms and young, self-employed and migrant workers hard. Persisting high unemployment underscores the need to improve social protection and policy support for those not adequately covered, including many independent employees working for online platforms, and the micro-, small- and medium-sized businesses that account for a significant part of Malaysia’s economy.

Prior to the pandemic, Malaysia undertook a series of reforms to improve the business environment, including by streamlining regulations and administrative burdens for businesses, and establishing competition authorities. While Malaysia now ranks well compared to its Southeast Asian peers, there is room to reduce barriers to competition further, particularly in the energy and transport sectors, professional services and retail, where the OECD’s Product Market Regulation indicators show that regulations and procedures remain restrictive relative to OECD countries.

The Survey also recommends accelerating Malaysia’s digital transformation by improving digital infrastructure, developing workers’ Internet skills and encouraging small firms – particularly older ones – to adopt new technologies that can stimulate innovation.  

See a Survey Overview with key findings and charts (this link can be used in media articles).

For further information, journalists are invited to contact the OECD Media Office (+33 1 45 24 97 00). 

Working with over 100 countries, the OECD is a global policy forum that promotes policies to preserve individual liberty and improve the economic and social well-being of people around the world.

09/07/2021 – The COVID-19 crisis has demonstrated governments’ ability to respond to a major global crisis with extraordinary flexibility, innovation and determination. However, emerging evidence suggests that much more could have been done in advance to bolster resilience and many actions may have undermined trust and transparency between governments and their citizens, according to a new OECD report.

Government at a Glance 2021 says that one of the biggest lessons of the pandemic is that governments will need to respond to future crises at speed and scale while safeguarding trust and transparency. “Looking forward, we must focus simultaneously on promoting the economic recovery and avoiding democratic decline” said OECD Direector of Public Governance Elsa Pilichowski. “Reinforcing democracy should be one of our highest priorities.”

Countries have introduced thousands of emergency regulations, often on a fast track. Some alleviation of standards is inevitable in an emergency, but must be limited in scope and time to avoid damaging citizen perceptions of the competence, openness, transparency, and fairness of government.

Governments should step up their efforts in three areas to boost trust and transparency and reinforce democracy:

• Tackling misinformation is key. Even with a boost in trust in government sparked by the pandemic in 2020, on average only 51% of people in OECD countries for which data is available trusted their government. There is a risk that some people and groups may be dissociating themselves from traditional democratic processes.

• It is crucial to enhance representation and participation in a fair and transparent manner. Governments must seek to promote inclusion and diversity, support the representation of young people, women and other under-represented groups in public life and policy consultation. Fine-tuning consultation and engagement practices could improve transparency and trust in public institutions, says the report. Governments must also level the playing field in lobbying. Less than half of countries have transparency requirements covering most of the actors that regularly engage in lobbying.

• Strengthening governance must be prioritised to tackle global challenges while harnessing the potential of new technologies. In 2018, only half of OECD countries had a specific government institution tasked with identifying novel, unforeseen or complex crises. To be fit for the future, and secure the foundations of democracy, governments must be ready to act at speed and scale while safeguarding trust and transparency.

Governments must also learn to spend better, according to Government at a Glance 2021. OECD countries are providing large amounts of support to citizens and businesses during this crisis: measures ongoing or announced as of March 2021 represented, roughly, 16.4% of GDP in additional spending or foregone revenues, and up to 10.5% of GDP via other means. Governments will need to review public spending to increase efficiency, ensure that spending priorities match people’s needs, and improve the quality of public services.

The report, the seventh edition of the OECD’s two-yearly overview of public governance, compares OECD and partner countries in areas such as public finance, employment, budgeting, digitalisation and public service delivery. The data can be used to benchmark governments’ performance, track national and international developments over time, and monitor governments’ progress in public sector reform. Read the full report and country notes.

For more information, journalists should contact Spencer Wilson in the OECD Media Office.

Working with over 100 countries, the OECD is a global policy forum that promotes policies to preserve individual liberty and improve the economic and social well-being of people around the world.

With less than 10 years until the 2030 deadline for achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), governments need to step up their efforts to meet global food security and environmental targets, according to a new report released today by the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).

Although progress towards the SDGs is expected to be made in the coming decade – assuming a fast recovery from the global COVID-19 pandemic, and stable weather conditions and policy environments – the past year of disruptions from COVID-19 has moved the world further away from achieving the SDGs. This calls for urgent attention to the factors and forces driving performance in agri-food systems.

The OECD-FAO Agricultural Outlook 2021-2030 provides policy-makers with a consensus assessment of the ten-year prospects for 40 main farm and fisheries products at regional, national and global levels, analysing the drivers of performance in the agri-food markets and helping to inform forward-looking policy analysis and planning. The Outlook baseline projections describe expected trends based on existing policies, highlighting areas where additional effort is needed to meet the SDGs.

Ensuring food security and healthy diets for a growing global population will remain a challenge. Global demand for agricultural commodities – including for use as food, feed, fuel and industrial inputs – is projected to grow at 1.2 percent per year over the coming decade, albeit at a slower annual rate than during the previous decade. Demographic trends, the substitution of poultry for red meat in rich and many middle-income nations, and a boom in per capita dairy consumption in South Asia are expected to shape future demand.

Sustainable productivity growth is key

Productivity improvements will be key to feeding a growing global population – projected to reach 8.5 billion by 2030 – sustainably. Of the increases in global crop production expected in 2030, 87 percent are projected to come from yield growth, while 6 percent to come from expanded land use and 7 percent from increases in cropping intensity. Similarly, a large share of the projected expansion in livestock and fish production is expected to result from productivity gains. However, herd enlargement is also expected to significantly contribute to livestock production growth in emerging economies and low-income countries.

Trade will continue to be critical for global food security, nutrition, farm incomes and tackling rural poverty. On average across the world, around 20 percent of what is consumed domestically is imported. Looking ahead to 2030, imports are projected to account for 64 percent of total domestic consumption in the Near East and North Africa region, while Latin America and the Caribbean region is expected to export more than a third of its total agricultural production.

“We have a unique opportunity to set the agri-food sector on a path of sustainability, efficiency and resilience,” OECD Secretary-General Mathias Cormann and FAO Director-General QU Dongyu said in the Foreword to the Outlook. “Without additional efforts, the Zero Hunger goal will be missed and greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture will increase further. An agri-food systems transformation is urgently needed.”

Global greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture are projected to increase by 4 percent over the next ten years, mostly due to expanding livestock production. This is despite the fact that emissions per unit of output – carbon intensity of production – are expected to decrease significantly over the period.

Globally, aggregate food availability is projected to grow by 4 percent over the next decade to reach just over 3000 calories per person per day. Per capita consumption of fats is projected to grow the fastest among major food groups, due to higher consumption of processed and convenience food and an increasing tendency to eat outside the home, both associated with ongoing urbanisation and rising women’s participation in the work force. Income shortages and food price inflation in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic are reinforcing this trend.

In high-income countries, per capita food availability is not foreseen to expand significantly from its already high levels. However, income growth and changing consumer preferences will support the shift away from staples and sweeteners to higher-value foods, including fruits and vegetables and, to a lesser extent, animal products.

In low-income countries, food availability is projected to increase by 3.7 percent, equal to 89 calories per person per day, mainly consisting of staples and sweeteners. Economic constraints will limit increasing consumption of animal products, fruits and vegetables. Due to income constraints, the per-capita consumption of animal protein is projected to decline slightly in Sub-Saharan Africa, a region whose self-sufficiency for major food commodities is, on current trends, expected to decrease by 2030.

Over the medium term, weather, economic growth and the distribution of income, demographics and shifts in dietary patterns, technological developments and policy trends will shape food and agricultural prices. While the FAO Food Price Index has risen strongly in the past year, these increases are expected to be followed by a period of downward adjustment. The Outlook projects that food prices will resume a gradually declining trajectory in real terms, consistent with slowing demand growth and expected productivity gains.

While the Outlook focuses on medium-term trends, a wide range of factors can generate the conditions for short-term price fluctuations in agricultural markets. For instance, developments in energy markets, which affect input prices, and the greater volatility in grain prices associated with the increasing market share of some countries, contribute to the differences between projected and observed prices.

More information on the OECD-FAO Agricultural Outlook is available here. For further information or interviews, journalists are invited to contact Lawrence Speer in the OECD Media Office (+33 1 45 24 79 70).

Working with over 100 countries, the OECD is a global policy forum that promotes policies to preserve individual liberty and improve the economic and social well-being of people around the world.