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Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine has led to higher energy prices and disruptions in trade and supply chains, weighing on economic growth. Economic convergence had already slowed down before the pandemic, calling for accelerating structural reforms. Rising spending pressures related to defence, internal security, health and old age poverty need to be addressed by raising spending efficiency and tax revenue, while the tax burden should be shifted from labour towards other income, property, and environmental taxes. Continuing to improve the capacity of the public sector, fostering investment and innovation and addressing skilled labour shortages are key for raising potential growth. Low credit supply is a main factor for weak investment and should be tackled by fostering competition and deepening capital markets. High informality, which hinders access to finance and distorts the level playing field, should be addressed by reducing labour taxes for low-wage earners, improving tax enforcement and continuing to fight corruption. Strengthening the power of the Competition Council to enforce competitive neutrality of state-owned enterprises and challenge regulation that restricts competition would help to foster business dynamism and innovation. Addressing skilled labour shortages will require facilitating skilled migration and investing more in human capital.
SPECIAL FEATURE: RAISING INVESTMENT TO SUPPORT GROWTH
De OESO-richtlijnen voor multinationale ondernemingen inzake maatschappelijk verantwoord ondernemen zijn aanbevelingen van regeringen aan multinationale ondernemingen. Zij hebben tot doel de positieve bijdrage die ondernemingen kunnen leveren aan de economische, ecologische en sociale vooruitgang aan te moedigen en negatieve gevolgen die verband kunnen houden met hun activiteiten, producten en diensten tot een minimum te beperken. De Richtlijnen bestrijken alle belangrijke gebieden van bedrijfsverantwoordelijkheid, waaronder mensenrechten, arbeidsrechten, milieu, omkoping, consumentenbelangen, openbaarmaking, wetenschap en technologie, mededinging en belastingen. Editie 2023 van de Richtlijnen bevat geactualiseerde aanbevelingen voor maatschappelijk verantwoord ondernemen op belangrijke gebieden, zoals klimaatverandering, biodiversiteit, technologie, bedrijfsintegriteit en gepaste zorgvuldigheid in toeleveringsketen, alsook geactualiseerde uitvoeringsprocedures voor de Nationale Contactpunten voor maatschappelijk verantwoord ondernemen.
The Slovak Republic has reduced some environmental pressures over the past decade. However, it needs to do more to reduce air pollution, improve waste and wastewater treatment and move towards carbon neutrality. Since 2011, the country has taken important steps to improve its biodiversity policy. Slovakia needs to now align its strategy with the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework and the EU Biodiversity Strategy for 2030. Most species and habitats are in an unfavourable state and biodiversity considerations are not sufficiently integrated into sectoral policies.
This is the third Environmental Performance Review of the Slovak Republic. It provides an evidence-based assessment of the country's progress towards its environmental goals over the past decade. The 29 recommendations aim to help Slovakia improve its environmental performance, giving special focus to biodiversity and forests in the context of climate change.
Dieses Handbuch wurde entwickelt, um Unternehmen dabei zu helfen, Umweltaspekte in ihre Due Diligence-Prozesse für die mineralische Lieferkette einzubinden. Das Handbuch basiert auf den führenden internationalen, staatlich unterstützten Standards zur Sorgfaltspflicht in der Lieferkette und zu verantwortungsvollem unternehmerischem Handeln: auf den OECD-Leitsätzen für multinationale Unternehmen zu verantwortungsvollem unternehmerischem Handeln, dem OECD-Leitfaden für die Erfüllung der Sorgfaltspflicht zur Förderung verantwortungsvoller Lieferketten für Minerale aus Konflikt- und Hochrisikogebieten und dem OECD-Leitfaden für die Erfüllung der Sorgfaltspflicht für verantwortungsvolles unternehmerisches Handeln. Dieses Handbuch zeigt, wie die OECD-Instrumente für Due Diligence angewandt werden können, um Umweltrisiken und -auswirkungen in mineralischen Lieferketten durch Kontextualisierung bestehender Empfehlungen und Hinleitung von Nutzern zu nützlichen Ressourcen zu vermeiden.
Was ist Innovation und wie sollte sie gemessen werden? Kenntnisse über den Umfang der Innovationsaktivitäten, die Eigenschaften innovativer Unternehmen sowie interne und systemische Faktoren, die die Innovationstätigkeit beeinflussen können, sind Voraussetzung für die Umsetzung und Analyse von Maßnahmen zur Innovationsförderung. Das erstmals 1992 veröffentlichte Oslo-Handbuch ist das internationale Referenzwerk für die Erhebung und Nutzung von Innovationsdaten. Diese aktualisierte vierte Ausgabe deckt ein breiteres Spektrum von innovationsbezogenen Phänomenen ab und berücksichtigt die Erkenntnisse aus den jüngsten Innovationserhebungen in OECD-Mitgliedsländern sowie Partnervolkswirtschaften und -organisationen.
The Slovak economy has been relatively resilient to the energy crisis, but growth has slowed amid high inflation, weakening foreign demand and tightening financial conditions. The pandemic and the energy crisis have deteriorated public finances; steady fiscal consolidation is now needed to rebuild fiscal buffers and improve long-term fiscal sustainability in the face of rapid population ageing. Sustaining economic convergence and facilitating inclusive structural change requires improving skill provision at all stages of the learning cycle, fostering the domestic innovation capacity and improving the business environment. A more consistent pricing of carbon across the economy and stronger incentives for green investment and innovation would make growth more sustainable. Improving housing affordability requires structural reforms to improve the efficiency of the housing market, property tax reforms, and targeted support to vulnerable households. Incentives for housing renovation must be strengthened to address energy poverty and achieve environmental goals.
SPECIAL FEATURE: ADDRESSING HOUSING MARKET CHALLENGES
Switzerland has proved resilient through the pandemic, geopolitical turmoil and reverberations in energy markets. Unemployment and inflation are low, and living standards are among the highest in the OECD. This is reinforced by a dynamic market-based economy, highly skilled workforce and prudent macroeconomic policies. Yet, slowing growth amid continued price pressures pose challenges. A tight monetary policy is necessary to ensure that inflation remains durably within the central bank’s target range. Although a broadly neutral fiscal stance is warranted in the short term, longer-term fiscal pressures call for structural reform to counter rising cost of ageing and to support the green transition. Stronger incentives and speedier approval processes are needed to effectively reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The labour market is strong and unemployment low. Yet, skills shortages are rising. Longer working lives, improved incentives for mothers to participate more intensively in the labour market and migration of skilled foreign workers can mitigate the shortages. Improving framework conditions and maintaining access to foreign markets, while refraining from trade restrictions and distortive industrial policies, will strengthen economic resilience. Strong domestic competition and a better business environment will further reinforce Switzerland’s position as a global hub for business, investment and research.
SPECIAL FEATURE: STRENGTHENING ECONOMIC RESILIENCE WITHIN GLOBAL VALUE CHAINS
Romania’s economy withstood significant adverse shocks in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the ensuing energy crisis. Tackling high inflation is the immediate task for macroeconomic policy. Fiscal consolidation would complement restrictive monetary policy in keeping demand at sustainable levels. Greater tax revenues are needed to stabilise the public debt burden while funding priority spending – including on critical infrastructure, pensions, health care and the education system. Productivity growth is a powerful engine for lifting living standards but sustaining it will require a sound investment climate backed by strong competition, predictable policymaking, financial inclusion and effective controls against corruption. Romania’s Recovery and Resilience Plan is helping drive reform. More policy focus is needed on addressing disparate socio-economic outcomes within Romania and to lift employment among groups underrepresented in formal work, including women. Faster progress is also required to decarbonise the economy by 2050. Romania needs more renewable power and big energy savings to reduce fossil fuel use. Energy-efficient buildings, better transport systems and consistent price signals for abatement are also needed. Efficient and fair policies can limit costs from the net-zero transition, shield affected communities from hardship, and prepare people for changing climates.
SPECIAL FEATURE : DECARBONISING ROMANIA'S ECONOMY
Chile has made important strides on its environmental agenda in recent years with the passage of the Framework Law on Climate Change, the establishment of the Biodiversity and Protected Areas Service and the ratification of the Escazú Agreement. However, the country has made limited progress in decoupling environmental pressures from economic growth. Greenhouse gas emissions have continued to rise and the country is not on track to reach its legally binding target of net zero by 2050. Chile is well-positioned to achieve its targets for biodiversity, while air pollution remains a serious public health challenge and waste management relies heavily on landfilling. Chile is facing a severe and deepening water crisis that requires concerted action to improve water allocation and water quality, and to strengthen water governance. The review provides 36 recommendations to help Chile improve its environmental performance, with a special focus on water management and policies.
This is the third Environmental Performance Review of Chile. It provides an independent, evidence-based evaluation of the country’s environmental performance since the previous review in 2016.
The 2024 edition of the OECD Competition Trends report highlights worldwide competition enforcement trends during the calendar year 2022 based on 77 jurisdictions. Similar to previous editions, this year’s report compares different geographic regions and identifies trends over time. Analyses focus on competition authorities’ resources and their enforcement activity in cartels, abuse of dominance cases, mergers, and advocacy activity. Moreover, this year’s edition includes a special chapter on merger control, which provides for the first time a disaggregate analysis of the participating jurisdictions. It also contains an analysis of all merger prohibition cases between 2015 and 2022.
After a strong demand-based recovery following the COVID-19 pandemic, economic activity declined amid high inflation. Growth has restarted in mid-2023 and inflation is receding, but fiscal and monetary policies need to work hand-in-hand to fight remaining inflationary pressures and recreate fiscal space to finance future spending needs.
Productivity growth has slowed since the mid-2000s and structural reforms that facilitate new firm entry and exit and a wider take-up of digital tools are needed. Recent reforms to the anti-corruption and public integrity framework will sustain investor confidence if they are fully implemented.
Social transfers keep income inequalities and poverty low but should be better targeted to those most in need. Women face large employment and pay gaps compared to men and intergenerational mobility is limited. Further expanding access to childcare facilities for young children and improving the education system would help to address these challenges.
Hungary’s green transition can build on past progress but needs to accelerate. This will require more electricity supply from low-carbon sources, with price signals acting as a catalyst. Restructuring energy support by moving from price caps to more targeted cash transfers to vulnerable households would strengthen incentives for energy efficiency improvements and reduce fiscal costs.
SPECIAL FEATURE: GREEN TRANSITION
This report presents a comprehensive overview of recent and longer-term trends in productivity levels and growth in OECD countries and selected G20 economies. The different chapters feature an analysis of latest developments in productivity, economic growth, sectoral reallocation, investment, labour productivity by firm size and labour income. This edition also includes a special chapter providing insights of productivity developments in 2023 based on experimental estimates for 38 OECD countries.
After a slow recovery from the pandemic, the Mexican economy has navigated well the global environment of tightening financial conditions and heightened uncertainty. Fiscal policy has a robust track record in attaining fiscal targets and keeping public debt low. Higher tax revenues would allow to maintain fiscal prudence and to address important spending needs in productivity enhancing areas, such as education, infrastructure, the digital and green transitions, and the fight against corruption and crime. Mexico has large potential to attract investment from companies looking to relocate their operations to North America. This is also a significant opportunity to spread the benefits of trade throughout the country and to create more and better value chain linkages. Fully harnessing these opportunities will require addressing long-standing challenges related to transport and digital connectivity, regulations or the rule of law, and shifting to renewables. Improving education outcomes and reducing gender gaps and informality would help to continue the recent fall in income inequality, while also strengthening the country’s growth potential. Improving access to adequate housing and more coordination across, urban, housing and transport infrastructure policies would enhance Mexicans’ living conditions, reduce urban sprawl and improve urban mobility.
SPECIAL FEATURE: IMPROVING HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT POLICIES
Growth has held up better in Egypt than in neighbouring countries until recently but inflation has reached very high levels and financing conditions have tightened along with foreign currency shortages. In this context, Egypt is stepping up economic reform efforts. The exchange rate needs to become more flexible with monetary policy geared to bring inflation down to target. High public debt makes Egypt more vulnerable to external shocks. Committing to a credible consolidation strategy is key to restore public finance health, which would improve investor confidence and thereby reduce debt servicing costs. While expanding cash transfers to the most vulnerable, broad-based energy subsidies should be phased out, which would also reduce emissions. As public investment has expanded substantially, further efforts to rationalise large-scale construction projects should be pursued, while allocating resources to green investment. To revive private sector growth, the regulatory burden and the state footprint ought to be reduced, and ongoing reforms including the divestment plan should be implemented fully and effectively. As the working-age population will expand with a rising education level, younger generations need to be better integrated into the labour market. This requires reducing labour taxation, enhancing public employment support and better aligning skills to labour market needs.
SPECIAL FEATURES: IMPROVING THE BUSINESS CLIMATE TO REVIVE PRIVATE SECTOR GROWTH; PROMOTING BETTER-QUALITY JOB CREATION FOR INCLUSIVE GROWTH
The Kazakh government has undertaken crucial legal and regulatory reforms to improve the governance and performance of its state-owned enterprises (SOEs), but further reforms are needed. This review describes and assesses the corporate governance framework of the Kazakh SOE sector against the OECD Guidelines on Corporate Governance of State-Owned Enterprises. It makes recommendations to help the Kazakh authorities reform their state-owned sector and align the exercise of state ownership and the governance of SOEs with international best practices.
This report highlights key policy developments up to 2024 and the latest trends affecting services trade and digital trade. It also indicates best practices and the countries that lead in services reforms. The OECD Services Trade Restrictiveness Index (STRI) provides annually updated, comparable information on regulations affecting trade in services across 50 countries and 22 sectors from 2014 to 2024. The OECD’s quantification of services regimes across countries and over time seeks to inform the decisions of policy makers and regulators, to convey transparent and accessible information to exporters, and to provide a source of data for academic research on drivers and impediments to services trade.
This report presents developments of the work of the Inclusive Forum on Carbon Mitigation Approaches (IFCMA) to the G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors, and reflect on the IFCMA’s achievements one year on from its launch in February 2023.
The OECD Territorial Review of the Brussels-Capital Region, Belgium, provides an in-depth assessment of the trends, challenges and opportunities for sustainable and inclusive urban development in the region. It aims to help tackle the so-called ‘Brussels paradox’ between a highly performing region in terms of economic wealth creation and competitiveness but relatively poor social conditions. The region is also grappling with a shortage of affordable and quality housing, as well as several mobility challenges, including a high reliance on individual cars and traffic congestion, resulting in high commuting times and pollution levels, despite good accessibility to public transport. Although a comprehensive urban and land-use planning system exists, there is a lack of co-ordination with the surrounding regions and municipalities to drive more effective policies on housing, mobility, and other infrastructure investments. This review also examines the governance and institutional framework and suggests policy actions to strengthen co-ordination and co-operation mechanisms, and promote incremental collaboration at the metropolitan level. Finally, the review provides recommendations to enhance public finances in the region, focusing on better compensating for its additional charges, co-ordinating public investment among levels of government more efficiently, and establishing a metropolitan fund.
The global economy proved resilient in 2023, but there are signs that growth is easing as restrictive monetary policy takes effect. Global growth is projected to remain moderate in 2024 and 2025, with inflation declining towards target in most countries by 2025. Key near term risks include high geopolitical tensions, particularly if the conflict in the Middle East were to disrupt energy markets, and uncertainty about the strength of the ongoing impact from higher interest rates.
The Interim Report says that monetary policy should remain prudent to ensure that inflation returns durably to target, though policy interest rates can be lowered as inflation declines. Governments need to focus on ensuring fiscal sustainability, including through measures to reduce future spending pressures. Structural policy reforms are needed to strengthen the foundations for sustainable growth, with key priorities being to accelerate decarbonisation, revive global trade and improve educational outcomes.
The Interim Report is an update on the assessment in the OECD Economic Outlook, Volume 2023 Issue 2 (Number 114).
This publication presents guidance for the compilation of distributional results on household income, consumption and saving consistent with national accounts totals. These results are a key input for evidence-based policies targeting inequality and fostering inclusive growth, providing insights into key dimensions of material well-being across household groups. The results complement existing inequality measures by including elements that are often lacking from micro statistics and by providing inequality measures consistent with macroeconomic aggregates, broadening the scope for analyses, while also capturing households and transactions that are typically underrepresented in micro data. Moreover, while the estimates do require a number of statistical choices and assumptions, they have a high degree of international comparability because of the common methodology and their alignment to national accounts results. The handbook provides an overview of the conceptual framework underlying the distributional results and discusses various aspects in relation to the compilation and presentation of the distributional results. It aims to assist compilers in deriving high-quality distributional results and to provide users with more insights into the main benefits of these results as well as into the way that the results have been derived.