Sierra Leone Telegraph: 21 October 2019:
The Commonwealth has today published a statement in which it says that its finance ministers have recognised the potential of technology to improve debt transparency, while urging closer collaboration to resolve tax challenges arising from growing digital commerce.
According to the statement, revenues from tax collection are important for maintaining debt at sustainable levels, yet can often be impaired by the digitalisation of trade in services, as this often results in countries being unable to determine when, how and where taxes on digital transactions should be collected.
Ministers have therefore agreed that the Commonwealth should bring its powerful collective voice to ongoing discussions at the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), particularly on behalf of smaller states. International agreement on digital taxation could enable countries to benefit by taxing large tech giants, even if they do not operate within their jurisdictions, says the Commonwealth.
These decisions were made by ministers gathered in Washington DC for the 2019 Commonwealth Finance Ministers Meeting under the theme ‘preventing debt crises: the role of creditors and debtors’.
Commonwealth Secretary-General Patricia Scotland said: “The Commonwealth has a distinctive contribution to make by bringing together nations with developed and developing economies to agree on collective approaches and action towards a fair and equitable global system for taxing multinational businesses in a swiftly digitalising economy
“We need a rule-based system that is inclusive, transparent and efficient so that all countries have a means of collecting revenue and are thereby able to avoid accumulating excessive debt. It goes hand in hand with accelerating the gains to be made by addressing climate change and making progress towards achieving the sustainable development goals.”
Ministers saw global trade and geopolitical tensions as having ‘intensified’, in a context where global debt has risen to an all-time high, estimated at $19 trillion. They stressed the need to make debt easier to manage for vulnerable countries, and for them to be eligible for periods of relief to stabilise growth during economic shocks.
As seen in the past, disasters can push countries into taking on emergency loans to rebuild and recover. Such debt can easily become unsustainable for most low and middle-income countries, making them vulnerable to debt distress, the Commonwealth statement reads.
The Minister of Finance of Cyprus, Harris Georgiades, who chaired the meeting, said: “Disruptive technologies are challenging the financial system by increasing competition and reshaping conventional business models, thereby fuelling the creation of a whole new kind of financial ecosystem.”
During the meeting, ministers also reviewed a suite of Commonwealth initiatives, including a disaster risk portal to offer streamlined and integrated information on available funds to respond to disasters, and a fin-tech toolkit to help banks leverage innovation in the financial sector.
The Commonwealth gave a presentation on its flagship debt management system ‘Commonwealth Meridian’ which is used by 63 countries to manage their debt which combines to a total of $2.5 trillion.
Considerable progress is expected to have been made on the various action and initiatives discussed by the time of the next Commonwealth Finance Ministers Meeting, which will be chaired by Botswana in Washington DC in 2020, the statement ends.
The Commonwealth is a voluntary association of 53 independent and equal sovereign states. It is home to 2.4 billion people and includes both advanced economies and developing countries.
Thirty-one members of the Commonwealth are small states, many of which are island nations, bound together by shared values and principles that are inscribed in the Commonwealth Charter.
Member countries are supported by a network of more than 80 intergovernmental, civil society, cultural and professional organisations.
Africa is burden with foreign debts especially Sierra Leone.These debts unsustainability have caused our African nations a huge debt crisis. IMF and World Bank with their policies, will continue to brain-wash our Leaders. This is the fourth Generation, and Africa has the weakest Human Capital Development in the world. I am Sierra Leonean. Officials should impose massive Tax on Social Media such as facebook, whatapps, twitter, gmail and all Google products. The Government of Sierra Leone should levy tax on MGOs in order to generate more Revenues to meet our foreign debt crisis.
The Commonwealth always draft initiative on debt management. This has been on for over years, but I could not still understand why many African countries always have inconsiderable debts to pay wealthy nations. See, the next meeting will be hosted in one of Africa’s smallest countries, Botswana in 2020. Good initiative and this must be implemented strongly. Thanks.