economic recovery

The Covid-19 pandemic, compounded by locust infestations and climate crises, has brought East Africa’s worst economic crisis in decades. Yet, instead of taxing the wealthy, governments are planning to slash their public spending, which will worsen the crisis and deepen poverty and inequality in the region. But it is not too late to change direction.

At the end of the G20 Summit in Rome, Italy, Oxfam panned the lack of bold and effective action from the world leaders at such an important moment in the global response to the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Ahead of the G20 Summit in Rome, Italy, Oxfam calls on G20 leaders to take urgent action to dramatically scale up manufacturing and access to COVID-19 vaccines around the world, promote a fair economic recovery, fight hunger, lower dangerous greenhouse gas emissions, and help the poorest countries adapt to the climate change already happening.

Responding to IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva’s statement that the IMF Executive Board has approved her proposal for a $650 billion Special Drawing Rights (SDR), Nadia Daar, Head of Oxfam International’s Washington DC Office, said: “We commend this decision by the IMF’s Executive Directors and urge swift approval by the Board of Governors. This debt-free financing is urgently needed by struggling economies still in the eye of the COVID-19 storm, and with a long road ahead.”

The recovery fund and long-term EU budget agreed today do not match the urgency of our current situation and the challenges ahead, said Oxfam.

Today, the European Commission published an ‘Action Plan For Fair And Simple Taxation Supporting The Recovery Strategy’, including a communication on ‘Tax Good Governance in the EU and beyond’.

A wave of violence has once again crossed Central African Republic since October 2016. The efforts made by the newly elected authorities need to be sustained and to receive real financial and technical support from the international community.