Patent waiver will enhance global access to affordable COVID-19 vaccines Voluntary licensing, transfer of know-how and technology key to ramping up global production in long term Call on US and UK to abolish export ban on vaccines and raw materials More support for global vaccine distribution mechanism COVAX To accelerate global vaccine rollout, MEPs demand the temporary lifting of intellectual property rights protection for COVID-19 vaccines. In a resolution adopted with 355 votes in favour, 263 against and 71 abstentions,...

As economies reopen in various parts of the world, the price of some commodities has soared, including the prices of prominent industrial metals. The extent to which the metals price rally may lose steam depends on how multiple factors will play out. As our latest chart of the week shows, metals prices have increased by 72 percent relative to their pre-pandemic levels—reaching a nine-year high in May (in inflation adjusted terms). The increase has been broad-based across industrial metals—copper is...

Producing and consuming more goods and services for the same amount of work sounds too good to be true. In fact, it’s entirely possible. Higher productivity is one of the key ingredients to higher economic growth and incomes. It’s all about how workers become more productive. For many of us, the COVID-19 pandemic has changed the way we work and spend. The question is how these changes will affect our productivity, both now and into the future. 'The pandemic accelerated the...

EU Digital COVID Certificate will make travel in the EU easier from 1 July 2021. All EU member states will accept the certificates proving vaccination, negative test result or recovery from a COVID infection. It should facilitate free movement and contribute to restrictions being lifted gradually in a coordinated manner. It should apply from 1 July 2021 and be in place for 12 months. Affordable and accessible testing is encouraged: €100 million in EU funds to purchase tests. MEPs completed...

The Commission has today proposed an annual EU budget of €167.8 billion for 2022, to be complemented by an estimated €143.5 billion in grants under NextGenerationEU. Their combined firepower will mobilise significant investments to boost the economic recovery, safeguard sustainability, and create jobs. It will prioritise green and digital spending in order to make Europe more resilient and fit for the future. Commissioner Johannes Hahn, responsible for the EU Budget, said: “Today, we are putting forward unprecedented levels of financial support to...

HM Treasury | 5 June 2021, London, United Kingdom We, the Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors of the G7, met virtually on 28 May 2021, and Finance Ministers met in London on 4-5 June 2021, joined by the Heads of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), World Bank Group, Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), Eurogroup, and (on 28 May) Financial Stability Board (FSB). We agreed concrete actions to address today’s historic challenges and as part of our renewed...

The G7 on the 5 June 2021 agreed to back an historic international agreement on global tax reform which delivers on the Chancellor’s promise for big international companies to start paying their fair share. G7 Finance Ministers during their meeting in London came together to tackle the tax challenges that arise from the global digital economy. Following years of discussions, finance ministers agreed to reforms which will see multinationals pay their fair share of tax in the countries they do...

05/06/2021 - OECD Secretary-General Mathias Cormann welcomed today’s ground-breaking agreement by G7 Finance Ministers on key elements of international tax reform designed to address the tax challenges of the digitalisation and the globalisation of the economy. "Governments around the world need to be able to raise the necessary revenue to fund the essential public services and support that their populations require and expect, in a way that is efficient, least distorting and also fair and equitable", said Mr. Cormann. "The combined effect...