IMF Praises US Proposal for a 15% Global Business Tax | International | News

The agency also revealed that more than 60% of the financial support it allocated to face the COVID-19 pandemic was for Latin America.

The IMF on Tuesday praised the US proposal for a global tax “of at least” 15% on corporate income and stressed that this mechanism would allow governments to invest more in essential areas such as education, health and infrastructure.

“There was a proposal for a rate of up to 21%. The figure would be somewhat lower than that, “said Kristalina Georgieva, director of the IMF in a conversation with the newspaper. The Washington Post.

But any tax higher than the current one, which in many countries is “10% or even less, will be beneficial,” he added.

Georgieva recalled that the Fund is favorable to generalize this tax in the world because it means “more money in the coffers of the States” and reduces tax evasion.

The idea is years old, with a first agreement to launch this initiative in 2015 in Lima within the framework of the OECD, during the IMF’s autumn meetings.

Meanwhile, this Tuesday the IMF also announced that more than 60% of the financial support it allocated to countries to face the COVID-19 pandemic was for Latin America, said the director of the Western Hemisphere Department, Alejandro Werner.

In an IMF blog, the official highlighted the support of the global lender to the region, in which he anticipated substantial challenges in terms of growth, strengthening of public finances and education.

“It is important to note that 60% of the financial support that the IMF granted during the pandemic was directed to Latin America,” Werner said in a video posted on the IMF website.

He explained that this support materialized through emergency lines and contingent lines, as well as in the extension of some programs, such as the new agreement with Ecuador approved last year after the restructuring of private debt.

Of the $ 110,188 million of IMF assistance to 85 countries to weather the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, $ 68,013 went to 20 Latin American and Caribbean nations, nine of them Caribbean.

Werner said the Fund plans to continue supporting the region.

Once vaccination campaigns in the region accelerate and countries develop policy packages to boost growth, the IMF hopes “to be able to provide the financial support required for these programs to be implemented,” he added. (I)

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