Macroeconomic and Financial Policies

SouthViews No. 280, 17 December 2024

What Is Driving the BRICS’ Debate on De-Dollarisation?

By Ding Yifan

Ahead of the 2023 BRICS summit in Johannesburg, South Africa, there was much discussion amongst the member countries about whether negotiations would take place at the meeting regarding the development of a BRICS currency and the acceleration of de-dollarisation, that is, the promotion of currency cooperation and reduction in the use of the US dollar. In the end, the country leaders did not specifically discuss the issue of a BRICS currency but passed a resolution on expanding the organisation’s membership. Nonetheless, from both historical and realist perspectives, it is in the interest of the BRICS countries to promote de-dollarisation.

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South Centre Statement at 2nd PrepCom for FfD4, 3-6 December 2024

General Statement at the 2nd Preparatory Committee for the 4th International Conference on Financing for Development

New York, 3-6 December 2024

At the 2nd Preparatory Committee for the 4th International Conference on Financing for Development, South Centre emphasised the important opportunity FfD4 presents for developing countries to address significant shortfalls in resource mobilization necessary to implement SDGs & to reform the international financial architecture to align with Southern priorities.

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Policy Brief 133, 2 December 2024

South Centre Inputs to FfD4 Elements Paper – Debt Sustainability, Business and Finance, Taxation

By Yuefen Li, Danish, Abdul Muheet Chowdhary

The upcoming 4th conference on financing for development (FfD4) represents an important opportunity for developing countries to achieve a deep reform of the international financial architecture so that it meets their sustainable development needs and enhances the scale of development finance to fully realize the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Based on the inputs provided by the South Centre to the FfD4 process, this policy brief highlights some of the key messages, problem statements and policy solutions in the areas of sovereign debt, private business and finance, and international tax cooperation that should be considered by the countries of the global South in their deliberations towards achieving ambitious outcomes at FfD4.

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SouthViews No. 278, 27 November 2024

Undue High Expectations of the G20 Common Framework: Urgent Need to Reform the International Debt Architecture

By Yuefen Li

This article stresses how international debt architecture reform requires innovative solutions beyond the G20 Common Framework, and should be addressed at the 4th International Conference on Financing for Development.

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South Centre Statement to G-24, 21 October 2024

STATEMENT BY DR. CARLOS CORREA, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF THE SOUTH CENTRE, TO THE MINISTERS AND GOVERNORS MEETING OF THE INTERGOVERNMENTAL GROUP OF TWENTY-FOUR (G-24)

21 October 2024, Washington D.C.

The South Centre participated in the G-24 Annual Meeting of Ministers and Governors in Washington D.C. See our statement:

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Geneva Graduate Institute and South Centre Report, September 2024

Analysis of Imbalanced Tax Treaties of Developing Countries

Insights From the Tax Treaties Explorer Database

By Aiwei Feng, Shristi Joshi and Quinn McGannon

This report will start from exploring the historical background, theoretical frameworks, and practical implications of tax treaties, with a specific focus on their impact on developing countries. Utilizing diverse literature and datasets, including the Tax Treaties Explorer (TTE) from the International Centre for Tax and Development, it aims to identify restrictive tax treaties and provisions disadvantageous to developing nations. The methodology involves desk reviews, data analysis, and case studies to offer insights into challenges faced by developing countries in international taxation. By scrutinizing key provisions like those concerning permanent establishment and withholding taxes, it aims to highlight how treaties affect revenue generation, economic sovereignty, and development outcomes of South Centre Member States. South Centre Member States have been chosen for the purpose of this study due to their status as developing countries with much to gain from renegotiating their existing tax treaties.

Ultimately, this study intends to fill the gap in terms of treaty research and development of tax treaties of South Centre Member States by identifying their restrictive tax treaties and provisions therein with Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries. The choice of OECD countries reflects their status as mostly developed countries. At the same time, the study also intends to supplement tax treaties literature so far dominated by legal and economic analyses by focusing specifically on identifying specific restrictive provisions.

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G20 Visioning Seminar, 17-18 July 2024

G20 Visioning Seminar

co-organized by South Africa Department of International Relations and Cooperation, UNESCO, Institute of Economic Justice, UNCTAD and the South Centre

17 – 18 July 2024
Pretoria, South Africa
DIRCO Conference Centre 1

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South Centre Statement to G-24, 16 April 2024

STATEMENT BY DR. CARLOS CORREA, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF THE SOUTH CENTRE, TO THE MINISTERS AND GOVERNORS MEETING OF THE INTERGOVERNMENTAL GROUP OF TWENTY-FOUR (G-24)

16 April 2024, Washington D.C.

At the G-24 Ministers and Governors meeting, South Centre highlighted the many economic challenges facing developing countries and called for the urgent reform of the international  financial architecture.

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SC, Curtis, Mallet-Prevost, Colt & Mosle LLP, Columbia Centre on Sustainable Investment and IISD Side Event, 9-13 October 2023

Side Event to the 46th Session of the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) Working Group III (WG-III) on Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) Reform

“Cross-cutting issues at the centre of developing countries’ concerns during the 46th UNCITRAL WG-III Session: Developing Countries’ Efforts Towards ISDS Reform”

Co-organized by the South Centre, Curtis, Mallet-Prevost, Colt & Mosle LLP, the Columbia Centre on Sustainable Investment and the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD)

9-13 October 2023

Vienna, Austria

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SC, Columbia Centre on Sustainable Investment, IISD and IIED Side Event, 9-13 October 2023

Side Event to the 46th Session of the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) Working Group III (WG-III) on Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) Reform

“Cross-cutting issues at the centre of developing countries’ concerns during the 46th UNCITRAL WG-III Session: Damages at the Core of Discussion”

Co-organized by the South Centre (SC), Columbia Centre on Sustainable Investment, the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) and the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED)

9-13 October 2023

Vienna, Austria

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SC Statement to G-24, 10 October 2023

STATEMENT BY DR. CARLOS CORREA, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF THE SOUTH CENTRE, TO THE MINISTERS AND GOVERNORS MEETING OF THE INTERGOVERNMENTAL GROUP OF TWENTY-FOUR (G-24)

10 October 2023, Marrakesh, Morocco

To address the global polycrisis, developing countries need to come together to demand reforms in the international rules & architecture for debt, development finance, trade & tax to achieve equitable outcomes, fight climate change and meet SDGs.

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Research Paper 181, 14 August 2023

Trends, Reasons and Prospects of De-dollarization

By Yuefen Li

The 1944 “Bretton Woods Agreement” gave birth to the new international financial system marked by the centrality of the US dollar which is a crucial pillar of the global power of the United States. Over the past eight decades, the asymmetry of the shrinking US economic weight in the world economy and growing dominant role of the dollar has become more and more glaring. The disadvantages of overreliance on the dollar have been keenly felt, especially by developing countries. The recent moves to weaponize the dollar and the payment clearance system have triggered another wave of reassessment by national states and enterprises of the role of the dollar and led to the hitherto most broad-based de-dollarization process covering from Southeast Asia to Latin America and the Middle East. De-dollarization has been incrementally taking place in different forms and led by BRICS and some commodity exporting countries. However, there are many challenges to meaningful de-dollarization. Overall, de-dollarization efforts, despite important progress, have been limited and partial. There has been progress in reducing overreliance on the dollar through foreign exchange reserve diversification and trade invoicing as evidenced by the decline in the dollar’s share of allocated foreign exchange reserves and the increase of trade invoiced and transacted in currencies other than the dollar. However, on aspects requiring the deep financial market and wide network such as foreign exchange transactions, issuance of debt and payment clearance, the dollar’s share has not suffered a decline. To reform the international financial system, the BRICS in particular should continue to take the lead in furthering the de-dollarization efforts.

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