OCDE

G20 Leaders meeting in Brisbane, Australia this weekend (15 and 16 November) are being urged to tackle rising inequality head-on or risk leaving millions of people trapped in poverty, as new figures reveal the wealth disparity in a number of G20 countries.

The gap between the rich and the rest is extreme and growing. G20 nations are not immune.

Fair tax regimes are vital to finance well-functioning states and to enable governments to uphold citizens’ rights to basic services, such as healthcare and education.

The G20’s plan to tackle corporate tax dodging, devised by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), needs a radical shake up so that developing countries can capture their fair share of foreign business activity, according to a new report published today by Oxfam.

Hundreds of thousands of poor people will go without life-saving medicines and many more children will miss out on school because of the first cuts in aid since 1997, Oxfam warned today.

Food prices will remain high and volatile for at least another decade driving hunger and malnutrition according to the Agriculture Outlook Report 2011 - 2020 released by the Food a

Faltering overseas aid figures announced today are depriving poor countries of a massive $18bn worth of life-saving aid, at a time when 64 million more people globally have been pushed into poverty by the financial crisis.

The 2009 overseas aid figures released today by the OECD show that rich countries are failing to deliver on their promises to poorer countries. The amount of aid has fallen by $3.5 billion when compared with last year’s prices.

Oxfam responds to OECD predictions on overseas aid shortfall: “This missing $21 billion could pay for every child to go to school, and could save the lives of 2 million of the poorest mothers and children."

The 10% increase in foreign aid to $120 billion is welcome but still nowhere near enough to meet the needs of poor countries in the face of global economic meltdown.