Reports

This report examines the work of the business ombudsman institutions of Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Ukraine and Uzbekistan in order to identify their successful practices, as well as gaps that can be addressed through mutual learning and knowledge sharing. It reviews key aspects of the work of these institutions, including the legal framework for their operations, independence and accountability safeguards, funding mechanisms and operational procedures. Based on the analysis, the report offers a number of recommendations that can help improve existing institutions and also be useful to countries that are considering establishing them.

This report provides an overview of the impacts of climate change on infrastructure , and key policy areas to be considered to render infrastructure more resilient. It discusses advances and persisting gaps in planning and developing infrastructure across its lifecycle to build in climate resilience and how this can be fostered by place-based approach. The report explores how climate risk awareness and understanding can be strengthened and become a norm for all financing and investment decisions, through standards and financial instruments that integrate climate adaptation and resilience. It includes a spotlight on nature-based solutions and offers insights on how nature can be harnessed as a cost-effective measure to build climate resilience. The report also recognises the specific needs of developing countries as requiring global attention for economic development and through strengthened international partnerships and support. Key policy insights are provided and advocate for national and subnational policy-makers to adopt a multi-level governance approach to resilience, working with infrastructure owners and operators to support decision-making.

This report provides an overview of green budgeting practices across OECD countries based on the 2022 OECD Green Budgeting Survey, as well as the index methodology for the Survey. It takes stock of OECD countries’ progress in bringing climate and environmental considerations into budgeting frameworks and processes. Green budgeting involves a systematic approach across all stages of the budget process, including financial reporting and budget oversight. The growth in green budgeting in OECD countries, as shown in the report, demonstrates the key role of budget offices in ensuring that policy priorities relating to climate change and the environment are taken into account when allocating resources through the budget process.

The OECD Global Corporate Sustainability Report aims to enhance the adoption of corporate governance policies that promote the sustainability and resilience of companies. It examines the evolving landscape of corporate sustainability practices worldwide and includes a focus on key dimensions outlined in the G20/OECD Principles of Corporate Governance, such as sustainability-related disclosure, shareholder-company dialogue, board responsibilities, and stakeholder interests. It offers comprehensive data analysis specifically designed to meet the needs of policymakers, regulators, and market participants.

Decentralised finance, including crypto-asset markets and DeFi protocol activity, has been promoted as a tool to support the democratisation of finance. This report presents quantitative evidence from ASEAN economies that participation in decentralised finance markets has been largely driven by speculative forces and a fear of missing out, rather than by practical use-cases that can promote financial inclusion. Since decentralised finance today involves unregulated or uncompliant financial service provision, the complexity and the non-custodial nature of such activity (particularly DeFi protocol activity) make these practically difficult for retail participation. The report provides policy considerations and discusses other digital finance tools that could be considered as alternative catalysts for financial inclusion, particularly when it comes to MSME financing.

This paper reviews the digital tools developed by the insurance industry to improve the health and wellness of policyholders. These tools are said to offer a win-win: better health for policyholders and reduced claims for insurers. Many tools apply lessons from behavioural economics by seeking to influence policyholder behaviour and overcome short-term barriers to change. This paper identifies issues and challenges, such as data privacy and security, safety risks, data quality, overall effectiveness, and relevant policy and regulatory frameworks.

Since 2020, a series of shocks to the global economy has had significant impacts on small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and entrepreneurs and their access to finance. Most recently, significant inflationary pressures have led to tighter lending conditions, limiting the flow of finance to SMEs and acting as a barrier to investment. Financing SMEs and Entrepreneurs 2024: An OECD Scoreboard monitors SME and entrepreneurship financing trends, conditions and policy developments in close to 50 countries. It documents a strong increase in the cost of SME financing in 2022, alongside a significant decline in SME lending. Equity finance also fell sharply in 2022, after a year of historically high growth in 2021. Women-led and minority-owned businesses, which typically find it more difficult to access venture capital financing, were affected disproportionately. Against this backdrop, the Scoreboard highlights the recent measures governments have taken to support SME access to finance, including finance for the green transition. A continued focus on diversifying financial sources and instruments will be important to meet the different needs of all types of SMEs and entrepreneurs, and enable them to act as an engine of resilient, sustainable and inclusive growth.

This report presents a comprehensive analysis of the use and structure of corporate bond markets in Asia. Based on original data, it assesses the extent to which corporations, in particular smaller growth companies, use bond markets and how that has developed over time. It also examines the regulatory frameworks that govern these markets in 19 different jurisdictions. Drawing from these findings, it formulates policy considerations for facilitating growth company access to corporate bond markets.

The Global Debt Report examines sovereign and corporate debt markets, providing insights into current market conditions and associated policy considerations, including possible financial stability risks. This first edition consolidates the Sovereign Borrowing Outlook, previously a separate OECD publication, and introduces new chapters on corporate bond markets and sustainable bonds. Chapter 1 provides an overview of sovereign borrowing globally and an outlook for OECD countries, with a focus on the impact of recent developments in funding conditions and changes to the investor base. Chapter 2 explores global corporate bond market dynamics, build-up of risks and vulnerabilities and the impact of a changing macrofinancial landscape. Chapter 3 looks at trends in global sustainable bond markets and discusses policy considerations such as the sustainability premium, the roles of service providers and market liquidity.

This publication provides comprehensive data on the volume, origin and types of aid and other resource flows to around 140 developing countries.  The data show each country's receipts of official development assistance as well as other official and private funds from members of the Development Assistance Committee of the OECD, multilateral agencies and other key providers. Key development indicators are given for reference.    Cette publication fournit des données détaillées sur le volume, la provenance and les types d'aide et d'autres apports de ressources attribués à chacun d'environ 140 pays en voie de développement. Les données statistiques couvrent les apports d'aide publique au développement et les autres financements publics et privés fournis à chaque pays bénéficiaire par chacun des membres du Comité d'aide au développement de l'OCDE, par les organismes multilatéraux ainsi que par d'autres fournisseurs.  Des indicateurs socio-économiques de base sont présentés pour information.