In the next semester, DFI will be involved in four new major initiatives: (with Oxfam) a Government Spending Watch report/website/database, analysing how much countries are spending on the Millennium Development Goals; (with New Rules for Global Finance) a Global Financial Governance report analysing the governance and impact on development of the G20, IMF, World Bank and FSB; (with OIF) a Development Financing Policy Network among low-income francophone countries; and (with UNDESA/UNDP) a programme to accelerate national-level Mutual Accountability on development cooperation and results. It will continue to provide capacity-building support to a wide range of countries, as well as conducting research on development cooperation, private financing, LIC development financing policies and MDG spending, and AfDB lending...Read more

Managed by CEMLA and funded by the Secretariat for Economic Cooperation of the Swiss Government, the Capacity Building Programme in Public Debt Management (PDP) was launched in 2012 to deliver tailor-made capacity-building support in public debt management to Latin American countries. The five-year programme will aim at assisting LIC and MIC LAC countries to maintain debt sustainability and improve debt and macroeconomic management through improved national debt and new financing strategies capable to effectively respond to the impacts of the financial crisis. Initial Demand Assessment Missions have already been conducted to several countries and will be completed in Q1/Q2 2013.

DFI will be supporting the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs and UNDP to implement programmes to strengthen national mutual accountability mechanisms for development cooperation and its results in 4 pilot African countries during 2013. The work builds on the earlier global analysis of MA progress and DFI’s experience in providing MA support to more than 30 low- and middle-income countries.

The report of the client assessment organised by DFI for the African Development Bank is due to be published in February. The report finds that the AfDB is “a preferred partner” of its African clients compared to other funding organisations, and makes recommendations on strategy, resources, delivery, private sector support, becoming a “Policy Bank”, and reinforcing engagement with stakeholders, based on clients’ suggestions, to assist the Bank to become the preferred partner of its clients under its long-term strategy for 2013-22.

DFI conducted the final debt policy support mission to support the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning in South Sudan. The mission, funded by the joint donor Capacity Building Trust Fund, had three aims: to finalise the South Sudan Debt Policy for approval by the Government; to finalise plans for institutional strengthening and capacity-building support on debt management to be provided to Government institutions as well as Parliament; and to provide any updated short-term advice on current borrowing issues.

The EU Council adopted a decision authorising eleven Member States - including the 4 biggest Eurozone economies Germany, France, Italy and Spain to go ahead with enhanced cooperation on a common system of financial transaction tax. A subsequent Commission proposal for a Council Directive implementing the enhanced cooperation in the area of financial transaction tax should follow in due course. Check progress on the Robin Hood Tax website.

DFI presented lessons from experience at a seminar organised by DfID, together with presenters from DfID Afghanistan and Sierra Leone. The seminar discussed key lessons about the need to tailor MA processes to different countries (eg MICs, LICs and fragile states), closer collaboration between MA and New Deal processes, generating political commitment by donor and recipient governments, enhancing inclusion of parliaments and civil society, and capacity-building needs. The DFI presentation is available here.

A working paper from the Overseas Development Institute (ODI) studies the evolution of development assistance in the changing global context of the last ten years, analysing the various types of funding available now to developing countries and providing specific examples in case studies.

DFI has produced a set of briefing/training papers for low-income policymakers on the pros and cons of international bonds, credit ratings and PPP/Private Financing Initiative deals, as well as on best practices in mobilising funding through these mechanisms. They are the first in a series of briefings on innovative financing mechanisms (including advocacy and implementation notes, and case studies of country experiences) which will be produced during 2013-14.

New Rules for Global Finance has established a coalition with issue-specific campaigns on bank legislation, commodity/food speculation and hedge funds, tax havens and shadow banking, and sovereign debt, to monitor more closely the work of the FSB and G20 on regulating global private financial flows. To support the coalition, it has expanded and updated the www.fsbwatch.org website as well as the www.new-rules.org website, and appointed “translators” to provide concise user-friendly summaries of FSB and other documents for advocacy purposes. DFI will help New Rules to facilitate meetings in April in Washington to plan a Global Financial Governance report, assessing the governance, accountability, transparency and impact on inclusive and sustainable development of the G20, IMF, World Bank and FSB; as well as a meeting in Basel in June to plan more specific activities on the FSB and G20.