G20 Brisbane: 3 Big Decisions Made At Economic Conference
Making The Global Economy More Resilient
A decision has been made on a range of measures that will help make the global economy more resilient to future shocks—like the recent global recession—and protect both business and consumer interests. To protect again these shocks, the G20 decided to endorse measures that would “strengthen financial institutions, protect taxpayers from having to fund bailouts if ‘too big to fail’ financial institutions run into difficulty, address shadow banking risks, and make derivative markets safer.”
Some of the elements in the policy framework will need to be finalised, but from now on the G20 financial regulation agenda will focus now on implementation, supervision and monitoring the effects of the reforms.
Infrastructure
Sydney will now be home to a Global Infrastructure hub, which will assist increasing global investment in infrastructure by facilitating better information sharing and collaboration between the private sector, governments, development banks and international organisations.
According to the B20, a hub like this could help access close to $2 trillion in global infrastructure capacity to 2030, if the private sector is heavily involved in the process. The Hub will help construction globally by helping countries “improve their general investment climates, reduce barriers to investment, grow their project pipelines and help match investors with projects.”
Fairness In The Global Tax System
The G20 is committed to delivering a plan to address tax avoidance called the Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) Action Plan. G20 and OECD members—which represent 44 countries and 90 percent of the world economy—are committed to the reforms.
The goals of this plan include:
- ensuring SMBs do not carry unfair tax burdens
- countries receive the taxes they are due, and
- a new global transparency standard
Australia in particular will be assisting the Philippines to implement the automatic exchange of tax information as part of the fight against tax cheats. The g20 recognises collaboration by tax authorizes is key to enforcing compliance.
