Mr. Angel Gurría, Secretary-General of the OECD, will be in Salzburg on 29-30 August 2018 to attend the Trilogue Salzburg “Taking Stock of Democracy - Still a Success Story or not Competitive Anymore?” event, organised by Bertelsmann Stiftung.

Mr. Angel Gurría, Secretary-General of the OECD, was in Vienna on 7-8 September 2018 to attend the Eurogroup Meeting / Informal Meeting of Economic and Financial Affairs Ministers (ECOFIN).

This country note for Austria provides detail on the proportion of CO2 emissions from energy use subject to different effective carbon rates (ECR), as well as on the level and components of average ECRs in each of the six economic sectors (road transport, off-road transport, industry, agriculture and fishing, residential & commercial, and electricity).

The digital revolution, globalisation and demographic changes are transforming labour markets at a time when policy makers are also struggling with slow productivity and wage growth and high levels of income inequality. The new OECD Jobs Strategy provides a comprehensive framework and policy recommendations to help countries address these challenges.

The Austrian standard VAT rate is 20.0%, which is above the OECD average. The average VAT/GST¹ standard rate in the OECD was 19.3% as of 1 January 2019. The previous standard VAT rate in Austria was 18% in 1983. It changed to the current level in 1984. Austria applies reduced VAT rates of 10% and 13% to a number of goods and services as well as one specific regional rates.

This country note explains how Austria taxes energy use. The note shows the distribution of effective energy tax rates across all domestic energy use. It also details the country-specific assumptions made when calculating effective energy tax rates and matching tax rates to the corresponding energy base.

Austria stands out for its high levels of economic and social well-being. Preserving these will require reforms to improve competition in the service sector, increase access to risk capital for firms of all sizes, encourage more women and migrants into the workforce and lengthen work lives to reflect the ageing population, according to a new OECD report.

The tax-to-GDP ratio in Austria increased by 0.4 percentage points from 41.8% in 2017 to 42.2% in 2018. The corresponding figure for the OECD average was a slight increase of 0.1 percentage point from 34.2% to 34.3% over the same period.

The tax wedge for the average single worker in Austria increased by 0.3 percentage points from 47.6 in 2018 to 47.9 in 2019. The OECD average tax wedge in 2019 was 36.0 (2018, 36.1). In 2019 Austria had the 4th highest tax wedge among the 36 OECD member countries, occupying the same position in 2018.

Housing Index in Uruguay increased to 273.05 Index Points in the fourth quarter of 2013 from 217.47 Index Points in the second quarter of 2013. Housing Index in Uruguay averaged 140.18 Index Points from 1991 until 2013, reaching an all time high of 273.05 Index Points in the fourth quarter of 2013 and a record low of 43.35 Index Points in the fourth quarter of 2003. In Uruguay, Housing Index is measured by the Index of New Housing Construction Volume with the base value of 100 in 1990. This page provides - Uruguay New Housing Construction Index - actual values, historical data, forecast, chart, statistics, economic calendar and news.

Uruguay is ranked 101 among 190 economies in the ease of doing business, according to the latest World Bank annual ratings. The rank of Uruguay deteriorated to 101 in 2019 from 95 in 2018. Ease of Doing Business in Uruguay averaged 95.83 from 2008 until 2019, reaching an all time high of 114 in 2009 and a record low of 85 in 2012. The Ease of doing business index ranks countries against each other based on how the regulatory environment is conducive to business operationstronger protections of property rights. Economies with a high rank (1 to 20) have simpler and more friendly regulations for businesses. This page includes a chart with historical data for Ease of Doing Business in Uruguay.

CPI Housing Utilities in Uruguay increased to 218.89 points in April from 209.60 points in March of 2020. CPI Housing Utilities in Uruguay averaged 97.18 points from 1997 until 2020, reaching an all time high of 218.89 points in April of 2020 and a record low of 28.79 points in March of 1997. This page provides - Uruguay Cpi Housing- actual values, historical data, forecast, chart, statistics, economic calendar and news.

Standard & Poor's credit rating for Uruguay stands at BBB with stable outlook. Moody's credit rating for Uruguay was last set at Baa2 with stable outlook. Fitch's credit rating for Uruguay was last reported at BBB- with negative outlook. DBRS's credit rating for Uruguay is BBB (low) with stable outlook. In general, a credit rating is used by sovereign wealth funds, pension funds and other investors to gauge the credit worthiness of Uruguay thus having a big impact on the country's borrowing costs. This page includes the government debt credit rating for Uruguay as reported by major credit rating agencies.

Government Debt in Singapore increased to 641094.30 SGD Million in the fourth quarter of 2019 from 612971.40 SGD Million in the third quarter of 2019. Government Debt in Singapore averaged 234324.80 SGD Million from 1990 until 2019, reaching an all time high of 641094.30 SGD Million in the fourth quarter of 2019 and a record low of 47443.50 SGD Million in the first quarter of 1990. This page provides - Singapore Government Debt- actual values, historical data, forecast, chart, statistics, economic calendar and news.

Government Debt in the United Kingdom decreased to -2325 GBP Million in March from -65 GBP Million in February of 2020. Government Debt in the United Kingdom averaged -4293.61 GBP Million from 1993 until 2020, reaching an all time high of 12509 GBP Million in January of 2019 and a record low of -21052 GBP Million in April of 2012. In the United Kingdom, net borrowing or net lending is the difference between the net acquisition of financial assets and the net incurrence of liabilities. This page provides the latest reported value for - United Kingdom Public Sector Net Borrowing - plus previous releases, historical high and low, short-term forecast and long-term prediction, economic calendar, survey consensus and news.

Cpi Housing Utilities in Morocco increased to 117.70 points in March from 117.60 points in February of 2020. Cpi Housing Utilities in Morocco averaged 110.13 points from 2008 until 2020, reaching an all time high of 117.70 points in October of 2019 and a record low of 103.30 points in November of 2008. This page provides - Morocco Cpi Housing Utilities- actual values, historical data, forecast, chart, statistics, economic calendar and news.

OECD governments are facing unprecedented challenges in the markets for government securities as a result of continued strong borrowing amid a highly uncertain environment with growing concerns about the pace of recovery, surging borrowing costs, sovereign risk and contagion pressures. The fourth OECD Sovereign Borrowing Outlook provides estimates for 2011 and projections for 2012. Higher than anticipated gross borrowing needs of

Europe's sovereign debt crisis has exposed structural weaknesses in economic governance that now threaten the entire euro region. Efforts to reinforce public finances and preserve the currency union must go further than solutions proposed to date.

In most OECD countries tax revenues are continuing to rise in relation to GDP from the 2008-09 declines seen at the beginning of the crisis, according to OECD’s annual Revenue Statistics. OECD countries collected about 34.0% of GDP in taxes in 2011, compared with 33.8% in 2010.

G20 Finance Ministers have welcomed a new OECD/G20 framework designed to help governments develop financial strategies for disaster risk management.

This report advances a “green investment policy framework” taking infrastructure investment as a starting point and looking only at climate change mitigation and adaptation. It highlights the significant opportunities and many challenges that exist today in both developed and developing countries to transition to low-carbon, climate-resilient (LCR) development through investment in both renovated and in new infrastructure.

OECD countries are intensifying their fiscal consolidation efforts, introducing additional measures and extending the time horizon to implement them. Most have announced fiscal consolidation of more than 3% of GDP over the period 2009-15, according to the OECD’s Restoring Public Finances 2012.

This paper addresses several broad issues for governments aiming to encourage private sector investment in low-carbon climate resilient (LCR) infrastructure, in both developed and developing world contexts.

Paris, 5 December 2012: This conference addressed the evolution of the terrorism threat and whether current insurance solutions adequately answer the needs of market players in an ever changing risk context.

Big changes are needed to strengthen the capital positions of euro area banks. European banks remain at the heart of the euro area crisis. Despite actions to strengthen banks and build a banking union, confidence in the euro area banking system remains weak, and is likely to remain so until underlying concerns over low capitalisation of some banks are addressed.

This conference in Nairobi, Kenya, addressed specific issues relating to financial literacy in Africa and the MENA region. It presented the output of the Russia/OECD/World Bank Trust Fund on Financial Literacy and Education.

The gross borrowing needs of OECD governments are projected to increase slightly to around USD 10.9 trillion in 2013, up from the already high level of USD 10.8 trillion in 2012, according to a new OECD report.

London, UK. Discussions at this event focused on how to make Defined Contribution pensions work better for members, designing Defined Ambition pension plans, guarantees v. risk sharing pension deals and pensions communication and individual behaviour.

This article summarises discussions from a financial roundtable addressing concerns about structural flaws in the way banks operate and are being regulated and supervised in the wake of on-going banking sector problems involving financial fraud and banking scandals.

This statement by Adrian Blundell-Wignall and Paul Atkinson was presented to the German Bundestag's Finance Committee Hearing on the Draft Bank-Separation Law (Drucksache 17/12601) on 22 April 2013.

There are good reasons why the public has lost confidence in banking and finance. Two issues in particular must be addressed before it can be restored– moral hazard and conflict of interest. Reforms should ensure that banks and bankers–not taxpayers–pay the price of failure and are held fully accountable for their actions.

The paper argues that interest rates are at extremely low levels to support banks, and the search for yield has pushed the liquidity driven speculative bubble from real estate, derivatives and structured products markets into the corporate debt market. Equities have rallied strongly too. This asset cycle is certainly helping banks reduce hidden losses on illiquid securities and could also help reduce the cost of equity.

The crisis has shown that there is no such thing as an optimal banking structure or model. The Liikanen report highlighted excessive risk taking and excessive reliance on short-term funding not matched with adequate capital protection. The French reform of the banking sector builds on this insight as well as the agreement reached by the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision and the European CRD 4 to foster financial stability.

Co-organised by the G20 Russian Presidency and the OECD, this roundtable focused on policy measures to address constraints in long-term investment. It was organised back-to-back with the 2013 OECD Forum and the OECD-Euromoney Infrastructure Summit.

This conference in Moscow explored strategies for developing financial literacy and capability and building effective consumer protection systems.

Whether you blame poor regulation, sloppy governance, greed or bad luck, banks were frontline culprits in causing the crisis. Governments have been working on reforms to fix the financial sector and improve governance, but a lot more work remains to be done. Some OECD principles can help.

Faced with the acute poverty of many Russian pensioners, the Russian government is engaged in wide-ranging systemic reforms. This report contributes to the policy discussion by identifying aspects of the system that may need to be reformed and describing the experience of other countries as a point of comparison.

Sovereign index-linked bond issuance has grown significantly since the early 1980s and index-linked bonds have become a widely accepted part of the set of instruments that sovereign debt managers use for funding purposes. This paper sets out a methodology for assessing their cost effectiveness relative to other financing options, using UK examples for illustration.

This seminar took place in Palembang, Indonesia, with discussions focusing on institutional investors and long-term financing and policy measures and initiatives to address constraints to infrastructure investment identified by APEC under the Indonesian presidency.

At their meetings on 19-20 September 2013, APEC Finance Ministers welcomed a survey report prepared by the OECD on disaster risk financing practices in the Asia Pacific region.

This regional seminar in Montevideo, Uruguay, focused on the monitoring and transparency of insurance markets in Latin America through the provision of sound insurance statistics and indicators, regionally and globally.

Jointly developed by the IMF, World Bank, EBRD, and the OECD, this report analyses the main elements necessary to deepen domestic bond markets in emerging and developing economies.

Low levels of financial inclusion are associated with lower levels of financial literacy. This report looks at how policy makers are developing financial education policies for financial inclusion. It highlights challenges faced and solutions found, as well as outlining the main lessons learnt and possibilities for the way forward.

This paper identifies the main trends in long-term financial intermediation focusing on the role of institutional investors in providing long-term finance for growth and development. It also highlights infrastructure as one specific sector that is facing major challenges in long-term financing.

This paper investigates whether countries that had controls on inflows in place prior to the crisis were less vulnerable during the global financial crisis. More generally, it examines economic growth effects of such controls over the entire economic cycle, finding that capital restrictions on inflows (particularly debt liabilities) may be useful in good times but may have adverse effects in a crisis.

This event, co-organised by the OECD and the Korean authorities, explored policies and good practices for supporting long-term savings and investments through financial education and financial consumer protection.

This article presents a brief overview of current financing difficulties for SMEs and policy measures to support SME lending during the crisis, and presents a literature review related to difficulties in SME’s access to finance during the crisis, against a background of a sharp decline in bank profitability and an erosion of bank capital that negatively affected lending.

The value of implicit guarantees has declined from its peak at the height of the financial crisis, which is consistent with progress made regarding the bank regulatory reform agenda, as one would expect that many of the reform measures imply a more limited value of implicit guarantees for bank debt. Implicit guarantees persist however and their value continues to be significant.

This article provides a framework for analysing the character and degree of ownership engagement by institutional investors. There are large differences in ownership engagement between different categories of institutional investors. There are also differences in ownership engagement within the same category of institutional investors such as hedge funds, investment funds, etc.

Borrowing operations by OECD governments are set to decrease, as their borrowing needs continue to decline, according to a new OECD report. Net borrowing needs are projected to fall from USD 2.0 trillion in 2013 to USD 1.5 trillion in 2014, the lowest level since 2007.