OECD

Today, the Development Assistance Committee of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD DAC) published its preliminary figures on the amount of development aid for 2022. 

Today, the Development Assistance Committee of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD DAC) published its preliminary figures on the amount of development aid provided in 2021. 

Oxfam today gave a cautious welcome to the OECD's plans to open up its tax reform process to developing countries but said more fundamental global tax reforms, beyond BEPS, are still needed to stop corporate tax scandals. 

In response to the publication today of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development’s (OECD) preliminary data on Official Development Assistance (ODA) for 2024, Oxfam International’s Aid Policy Lead Salvatore Nocerino said: “Today’s figures lay bare an ugly truth: even before this year’s devastating cuts to aid, rich countries had already begun to renege on their moral obligations to the world’s most vulnerable communities. Not only had they been reducing aid, but also spending a significant share of it within their own borders to cover refugee costs. Only a handful of countries, including Luxembourg, New Zealand, Spain and South Korea, maintained or increased their aid budgets in 2024, and are expected to do the same this year."

Responding to the Rio de Janeiro G20 Ministerial Declaration on International Tax Cooperation published today, Oxfam International’s Tax Policy Lead Susana Ruiz, said: "This is serious global progress —for the first time in history, the world’s largest economies have agreed to cooperate to tax the ultra-rich. Finally, the richest people are being told they can't game the tax system or avoid paying their fair share."
 

“Keeping already insufficient aid at stagnating levels costs lives and is a moral failure. Again, rich countries have betrayed their promise to the world’s poorest people —a promise to end hunger, invest in life-saving public health systems, and expand education opportunities so nobody is left behind."

In response to the statement issued today by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development’s (OECD) Development Assistance Committee, which says that countries will be able to count donations of unwanted vaccine doses as part of their foreign aid commitment, for a guideline cost of $6.72 a dose, Oxfam’s Health Policy Manager, Anna Marriott, said: “This guidance is a double insult to the world’s poorest countries. Firstly, rich countries bought up many more doses than they could use at a time of limited supply, preventing millions of people in developing countries from getting life-saving vaccines. Now they are free to charge any donations of unwanted doses to their aid budgets, to the detriment of other essential aid spending." 

In response to the OECD’s tax deal announced today, Oxfam’s Tax Policy Lead Susana Ruiz said: “Today's tax deal was meant to end tax havens for good. Instead it was written by them." 

On the eve of technical talks to thrash out the final details of the OECD tax deal ahead of the G20 Finance Ministers meeting next week, Oxfam is calling for world leaders to bring fairness and ambition back to the table and deliver a tax plan that won’t leave developing countries with next to nothing. 

Responding to the announcement today that the OECD Inclusive Framework on Base Erosion and Profit Shifting has agreed to push ahead with the two-pronged global tax reform deal and set a global minimum corporate tax of 15 percent, Gabriela Bucher, Executive Director of Oxfam International, said:  “This is not an ‘historic’ deal ―it is history repeating itself. Those who shamelessly rigged the global tax system to their benefit over a century ago have again ring-fenced the game for themselves."