This note is taken from Chapter 2 of Economic Policy Reforms: Going for Growth 2012.

Mr. Angel Gurría will be in Istanbul on 2- 3 October 2013, to attend the Informal Meeting of OECD Ministers of Education taking place under the overall theme Fostering skills and employability through education. The Secretary-General will deliver opening remarks on “Kick-starting a global skills revolution”, alongside Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Minister of National Education Nabi Avci.

These country notes contain indicators which compare the political and institutional frameworks of national governments as well as revenues and expenditures, employment, and compensation. They include a description of government policies on integrity, e-government and open government.

Turkey’s economy will grow stronger in the coming years, but remains overly dependent on domestic consumption funded by foreign finance, according to the latest OECD Economic Survey of Turkey.

OECD’nin yayınladığı en son Büyümeye Geçiş raporuna göre kapsamlı bir reform gündemi doğrultusunda kararlı ve sistemli adımların atılması hükümetlere, zayıf talebi canlandırmak, sağlıklı ekonomik büyümeyi canlandırmak, iş olanakları yaratmak ve kazanımları toplumun her kesimine ulaştırmak için fırsatlar sunmaktadır.

Turkey’s economy has proven remarkably resilient in the face of a challenging global economic context. However, further action can be taken to raise productivity and advance the shift to a more balanced, sustainable and stronger growth path that will boost living standards for the entire population, according to the latest OECD Economic Survey of Turkey.

In view of Turkey’s continued failure to implement key aspects of the OECD Anti-Bribery Convention and to enforce its foreign bribery laws, the Working Group on Bribery will send a high-level mission to Ankara in 2020, unless Turkey takes concrete action by October 2019.

The Netherlands, as other OECD countries, faces the challenge of providing high quality health and long term care services to an ageing population in a cost-efficient manner.

The Netherlands has strongly benefited from globalisation, which boosted international trade, cross-border investment and economic growth over the latest decades.

The GGKP’s second annual conference will be held at the OECD Headquarters in Paris on 4-5 April 2013. The discussion will be framed around two headline themes: Greening global value chains and Measurement and reporting for green growth.

We understand how much Greek society has endured these past six years. Reform isn’t easy at the best of times, but it can be even more challenging in the face of a weak economy while at the same time trying to correct a budget deficit. But all crises come to an end. Growth does return. Now is the time to maintain the momentum of Greece’s reform drive, said OECD Secretary-General.

Third Annual Conference on the theme of "Fiscal Policies and the Green Economy Transition: Generating Knowledge – Creating Impact" held at the University of Venice from 29 through 30 January 2015. The press release is available.

Competition policy is vital for creating opportunities for small business and big industry alike. It benefits consumers by reducing prices and increasing the choice of goods and services. This joint World Bank Group-OECD event showcased countries whose pro-competition reform efforts serve as examples for their regional and international peers and introduced tools to guide the design of new and improved policies.

This document describes and discusses a new supply side framework that quantifies the impact of structural reforms on per capita income in OECD countries.

Many laws and regulations set the rules for how businesses enter, operate and exit a market and competition assessments help to ensure that these regulations are not overly or inadvertently restrictive for businesses and consumers. This article looks at the tangible contributions competition assessment is making to reforms underway in Greece.

This report investigates how competition agencies can respond to the challenges posed by the multi-sided nature of platform markets, which are particularly common in the digital economy.

High unemployment rates, in the wake of the financial and economic crisis, have governments scrambling to create jobs. A new OECD report suggests that well-targeted tax reforms can encourage employers to hire more people and the jobless to look for employment.

We no longer talk about commitments to change; today, we are making change happen. We are implementing the now universally accepted international standard of transparency and exchange of information, said OECD Secretary-General.

Ms. Monica Bhatia has been appointed Head of the Secretariat of the Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes. She will take up her duties on 1 April 2012.

The OECD has updated Article 26 of the OECD Model Tax Convention, which sets out the international standard on exchange of information. The standard provides for information exchange on request, where the information is “foreseeably relevant” for the administration of the taxes of the requesting party, regardless of bank secrecy and a domestic tax interest.

Guatemala has signed the Multilateral Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters allowing it to be removed from the list of countries that have not yet substantially implemented the internationally agreed tax standard.

The fiscal and taxation reforms will be more than ever necessary in China to ensure that growth becomes more inclusive. So far, China has had a major success in reducing the poverty. But additional tax reforms will be needed to reduce further inequality in disposable income and across regions, as well as to help reduce the rural-urban divide.

The Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes (referred to as "the Global Forum"), has released its peer review reports for Belize, Finland, Iceland, Nauru, Poland, Portugal, Sweden and Turkey.

OECD Secretary-General Angel Gurria has presented a report to G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors that highlights measures to ensure that all taxpayers pay their fair share.

The Global Forum is looking for a Tax Policy Analyst

This fifth edition describes institutional setups, organisational arrangements and reforms, aspects of strategic management and human resource management, resources for tax administration, important areas of operational performance, the use of technology, and elements of the legislative and administrative framework for tax administration across the 52 economies covered by the series.

The OECD has presented to G8 leaders the steps needed to create a fairer and more transparent global tax system.

The Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes has released peer review reports assessing the tax systems of 13 jurisdictions for information exchange.

Vast amounts of money are kept off-shore and go untaxed. The more we do to combat tax fraud and evasion, the more resources we will have to finance growth-enhancing public investment, restore the health of public finances, and put the euro area economy back on a sustained and long-term recovery, said OECD Secretary-General.

Most OECD governments use tax incentives to encourage businesses to invest in research and development (R&D) to boost innovation and drive economic growth. Others, like China, India and South Africa, are doing the same. But reforming these incentives would give countries a better return on their investment and support young innovative firms that play a crucial role in job creation, according to a new OECD report.

The international community has taken new steps to strengthen transparency and boost the comprehensive exchange of information between governments worldwide.

This case study describes the approach taken to reduce NOx emissions from combustion plants, the challenges encountered and the social, environmental and economic impacts. It concludes by discussing the wider lessons that are raised for other governments seeking to develop similar policy responses.

Offshore tax evasion remains a serious problem for countries and jurisdictions worldwide, with vast amounts of funds deposited abroad and sheltered from taxation when taxpayers fail to comply with obligations in their home countries.

OECD Secretary-General Angel Gurría has welcomed moves by more than 40 countries – reinforced by EU leaders - to commit to a detailed timetable to step up the fight against tax evasion.

Bank secrecy for tax purposes is coming to an end as countries and major financial centres commit to automatic exchange of information between jurisdictions.

Andorra has become the 48th signatory to an OECD Declaration that commits countries to end bank secrecy for tax purposes.

Taking an important step towards greater transparency and putting an end to banking secrecy in tax matters, the OECD today released the full version of a new global standard for the exchange of information between jurisdictions.

As the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) approach their expiry date, we must focus our efforts on ensuring a brighter, more inclusive and sustainable future for all. We face a plethora of common issues: growing inequalities; changing consumption patterns and population dynamics; increasing natural resource scarcity; and ongoing illicit financial flows.

The new OECD/G20 standard on automatic exchange of information was endorsed today by all OECD and G20 countries as well as major financial centres participating in the annual meeting of the Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes in Berlin. A status report on committed and not committed jurisdictions will be presented to G20 leaders during their annual summit in Brisbane, Australia on November 15-16.

The Colombian economy has done remarkably well over the last decade, consistently ranking among the fastest-growing countries in Latin America, but a comprehensive tax reform that promotes investment and diversifies the economy is now needed to put the country on a path toward stronger, sustainable and inclusive growth, according to the latest OECD Economic Survey of Colombia.

Third Annual Conference on the theme of "Fiscal Policies and the Green Economy Transition: Generating Knowledge – Creating Impact" held at the University of Venice from 29 through 30 January 2015. The press release is available.

The Slovak Republic was among the fastest growing OECD economies in the last decade. It is broadly recognised that the 2004 tax reform contributed to this success. Ten years after this fundamental reform, however, the time has come to re-evaluate some of the key characteristics of the Slovak tax system.

In a boost for international efforts to strengthen co-operation against offshore tax evasion, seven new countries have joined the agreement to exchange information automatically under the OECD/G20 standard.

Tax administrations continue to face the challenges of improving their performance while reducing costs, decreasing compliance burdens for taxpayers tackling non-compliance. Improving taxpayer services, while making non-compliance harder, is helping revenue bodies increase their efficiency and allowing governments to finance important programmes that will further benefit their citizens.

Vast amounts are lost to illicit financial flows, including tax evasion, money laundering, bribery and corruption. These crimes threaten the strategic, political and economic interests of both developed and developing countries. In a world of limited resources and increasing complexity, it is essential for government authorities to work closely together in a “whole of government” approach to best address these challenges.

Healthcare costs are rising so fast in advanced economies that they will become unaffordable by mid-century without reforms, according to a new OECD report.

G20 finance ministers endorsed the final package of measures for a comprehensive, coherent and co-ordinated reform of the international tax rules during a meeting on 8 October, in Lima, Peru.

Keeping tax transparency high on the agenda of Governments and taking steps to ensure a worldwide level playing field will top the agenda during the 8th meeting of the Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes, in Bridgetown, Barbados on 29-30 October 2015.

In-depth discussions took place this week as the international community continues to make progress on the international tax agenda. Officials from more than 100 countries drawing from tax authorities, ministries of finance, development agencies, as well as regional and international organisations, business and civil society came together in a series of meetings hosted by the OECD.

On 17 December 2015 Greenland signed the Multilateral Competent Authority Agreement‎, re-confirming its commitment to implement automatic exchange of financial account information in time to exchange in 2017.