Sri Lanka: 2025 Budget expected to lower income taxes, secure IMF bailout
Sri Lanka's President Anura Kumara Dissanayake, who is also the nation’s finance minister, is expected to present the state budget for 2025 on Monday, 17 February 2025. A key focus of the budget is to ease the vehicle import duties, which is
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World Bank: Survey of Corporate Tax Incentives for Green Growth
A World Bank blog published on 13 February 2025, written by Hania Kronfol, Eduardo Antonio and Jimenez Sandoval, assesses the use of corporate tax incentives to encourage environmentally friendly investment. The blog refers to a World Bank
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European Commission unveils 2025 Work Programme
The European Commission unveiled its 2025 work programme on 12 February 2025, where it outlined key priorities aimed at strengthening the EU's competitiveness, security, and economic resilience. The work programme focuses on the flagship
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IMF: Revenue and Spending Measures for Developing Countries to Reduce Debt Levels
An IMF Public Finance Management (PFM) Blog, written by Talal Rafi (a Director at EY Sri Lanka) and published on 27 January 2025, looked at the measures developing countries can take to reduce public debt levels. The author notes that more than 3
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IMF Report Makes Tax Policy Recommendations for Japan
On 7 February 2025 the IMF published a report following discussions with Japan under Article IV of the IMF’s articles of agreement. The report notes that Japan’s economy contracted in the first half of 2024 as a result of temporary supply
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OECD updates ICAP documentation for global compliance
The OECD has updated the required documentation for the International Compliance Assurance Programme (ICAP). The Main Documentation Package has been revised and no longer requires MNE Groups to prepare a country-by-country reporting self-assessment
See MoreWTO Working Paper: Continuing Significance of MFN Trading Terms
A WTO working paper of 15 January 2025, written by Tomasz Gonciarz and Thomas Verbeet, has the title Significance of most-favoured-nation terms in global trade: A comprehensive analysis. Under the WTO's MFN trading principle, member countries of
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IMF Working Paper: Is Tax Policy Supporting a Costly Industrial Policy in Mozambique
An IMF working paper written by Santos Bila, Utkarsh Kumar and Alexis Meyer-Cirkel with the title Is Tax Policy Costly Industrial Policy in Mozambique? Finds that tax advantages do not compensate for shortcomings in economic conditions. The
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IMF Working Paper: Strengthening Tax Governance Through Legal Design
An IMF working paper of 17 January 2025 written by L. Sofrona, C. Waerzeggers and B. Crowley with the title Strengthening Tax Governance Through Legal Design looks at tax governance in tax administration and how this can be strengthened. The
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ATAF revises guidance on drafting transfer pricing legislation
The African Tax Administration Forum (ATAF) published an updated version of its Suggested Approach to Drafting Transfer Pricing Legislation on 11 January 2025. This publication, which has been prepared by the ATAF Cross Border Taxation Technical
See MoreWorld Bank: Global Economic Prospects
The World Bank report Global Economic Prospects was issued in January 2025. The report notes that global growth is projected to remain steady at 2.7% in 2025/26, but this relatively low growth rate will not be sufficient to promote sustained
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IMF: Briefing on the World Economic Outlook
In the briefing on the latest World Economic Outlook on 17 January 2024, the Director of the IMF’s Research Department confirmed that global growth is projected to remain steady at 3.3% in 2025 and 2026. Globally, inflation is expected to decline
See MoreIMF Updates World Economic Outlook
On 17 January 2025 the IMF published the update to the World Economic Outlook, with the subtitle Global Growth: Divergent and Uncertain. The update notes that global growth is expected to remain stable at 3.3% in both 2025 and 2026, below the
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IMF Report looks at Australia’s Economic Position
On 23 December 2024 the IMF staff issued a report following consultations with Australia under Article IV of the IMF’s articles of agreement. Economic growth is projected increase gradually, from 1.2% in 2024 to 2.1% in 2025. Real income growth
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OECD consults draft mining income ring-fencing toolkit
The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has released an announcement inviting public feedback on a draft toolkit published on 13 December 2024. This toolkit aims to assist developing countries address tax policy and
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EU: European Court of Auditors issue report on ATAD, DAC6, TDRD
The European Court of Auditors released a report, “Combating Harmful Tax Regimes and Corporate Tax Avoidance” on 28 November 2024. The report evaluates the effectiveness of measures and strategies implemented by the European Commission (EC)
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EU adopts new withholding tax rules (FASTER)
The Council of the EU has announced on 10 December 2024 that it adopted the FASTER Directive for establishing safer and faster procedures to obtain double taxation relief that will encourage cross-border investment and help fight tax fraud. The
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Canada: Parliamentary Budget Officer revises fiscal multiplier estimates
Canada’s Parliamentary Budget Officer (PBO) has updated estimates of fiscal multipliers on 20 November 2024. To assist parliamentarians’ deliberations of the current economic and fiscal situation, this additional analysis provides PBO’s
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