Author: Development Matters

Car mechanic in uniform checking car in automobile
Africa, Building resilience

It’s time to develop better automotive value chains in Africa

By Dave Coffey, Chief Executive Officer · AAAM[i] – African Association of Automotive Manufacturers

Where is the last frontier for significant automotive development and growth in the world? It’s Africa. The challenge then is, how can local skills and raw materials be better allocated to balance contributions to global supply chains and Africa’s own industries?

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Development Matters
Image of Angola, one of the courtiers defined as least developed
Building resilience

Can LDCs reach 7% annual GDP growth by 2031?

By Brendan Vickers, Head of Section, Salamat Ali, Trade Economist, and Neil Balchin, Economic Adviser: Trade Policy Analysis, The International Trade Policy Section of the Commonwealth Secretariat

If all 46 countries categorised as “Least Developed” by the UN achieve annual GDP growth of at least 7%, their combined GDP could almost double – between 2022 and 2031 – going from USD $1.1 trillion to more than USD $2.25 trillion.

—> This is the target set by the United Nations’ Doha Programme of Action (DPoA).

Yet, in the rapidly changing global economic landscape, with the threat of a worldwide recession and multiple and interrelated food, energy, and debt crises, achieving this ambitious growth target seems a herculean task.

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Development Matters
Reviving multilateralism

The Time Has Come for Multi-dimensional Development Metrics – India’s G20 Presidency

By G A Tadas, Visiting Fellow, Research and Information System for Developing Countries (RIS), New Delhi, India. Views expressed are personal.

GDP has long served as the key indicator of a country’s development, but is this the only factor that matters in citizens’ lives? Does more money categorically result in better lives?  The India G20 presidency is looking for other metrics to complement these measures.

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Development Matters
Asia, Green transition

Can electric vehicles drive climate change action in India?

By Trupti Deshpande, Former Senior Associate and Spurthi Ravuri, Senior Associate, Center for Study of Science, Technology and Policy (CSTEP)

The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted the transportation sector globally, pushing more people away from public transport and towards privately owned cars. How has it impacted emissions in India and can electric vehicles be the answer to “cleaner and greener” transportation?

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Development Matters
Reviving multilateralism

Stopping the leaks: a fresh look at tax breaks for foreign aid

By Rachel Morris, Policy Analyst – Financing for Sustainable Development (Development Co-operation Directorate), and Joseph Stead, Senior Policy Analyst – Tax and Development (Centre for Tax Policy and Administration), OECD

Faced with the worst economic downturn since World War II, developing country governments are scrambling to maximise resources to stay afloat. During the COVID-19 pandemic, developing countries took a massive hit to their government revenues: USD 689 billion fewer revenues were generated in 2019 compared to 2020.1  The poorest countries are now faced with an increasing gap to finance the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) due to higher financing needs and fewer resources to spend on recovery. In addition to declining government revenues, increasing pressures on available foreign aid mean that resources to avoid debt and climate crises are stretched2. With government revenues in developing countries expected to remain almost 20% below pre-pandemic levels, every penny counts, especially those coming from tax revenues. But tax exemptions can stand in the way of maximising tax revenues.

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Development Matters
New social contract

How to make gender equality work for everyone

By Laura Parry-Davies, Digital Communications Officer, OECD Development Centre

The pandemic has set equal rights for women and girls back significantly. What can the international community do to reverse this trend and put social, economic and physical equality back on track? 

Experts from UN Women, London School of Economics and Political Science, MenCare Global Fatherhood Campaign, and the OECD gathered to discuss next steps for empowering young women and girls as part of the OECD Development Centre’s 60th Anniversary Dialogues. 

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Development Matters
New social contract

The fourth Industrial Revolution and the reskilling challenge: a view from the Global South

By Ramiro Albrieu, Senior Researcher and Megan Ballesty, Project Co-ordinator, Center for the Implementation of Public Policies for Equity and Growth (CIPPEC-Argentina, member of the Southern Voice network)

The fourth industrial revolution is redefining the role of people in the workplace and, consequently, challenging 20th century education systems.
Many of the breakthroughs in the field of applied artificial intelligence and related technologies enable the automation of “codifiable” or repetitive tasks, representing hard-to-beat competition for workers performing them. Societies are therefore making efforts to redirect human capital investments away from learning goals associated with performing routine and repetitive tasks. Although this goal is clear, the specific features of policy frameworks to achieve it are hard to design, as they are highly context-dependent. A few examples follow.

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Development Matters
Green transition

Accelerating the green energy transition in emerging markets in times of crisis

By Maurizio Bezzeccheri, Head Latin America region, Enel; Francesco Ciaccia, Manager, Eni; and Marta Martinez, Climate Change and Alliances, Iberdrola 1

The world is in the midst of an unprecedented and complex global energy crisis. Governments across emerging markets face two apparently conflicting priorities: ensuring immediate energy security and accelerating the energy transition to address the longer-term challenge of climate change. But are these priorities truly conflicting? And what can the private sector do to change the calculus by accelerating the green transition in times of crisis?

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Development Matters
Digital public infrastructure concept
Reviving multilateralism

G20 – a unique opportunity to advance digital public infrastructure

By Liv Marte Nordhaug, Co-Lead, Digital Public Goods Alliance

Faced with recurrent shocks and crises, countries everywhere are looking to build more resilient and inclusive digital foundations for public and private service delivery. As they enter this next stage of their digital journeys, advanced and emerging economies alike should apply an infrastructure mindset that drives inclusion, empowerment, and innovation. India’s G20 presidency offers a unique opportunity to convene the international community around advancing this agenda.

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Development Matters