[Deuda-QdQ] Fwd: [euroIFInet] Please sign: Statement on Bangladesh-IMF loan

Vie Sep 28 10:19:45 CEST 2012

Hola gentes

Os parecería bien que envie la adhesión de quien debe a quien? a este
manifiesto que nos envian desde Bangladesh? Es muy curioso ver cómo se
están oponiendo a las mismas medidas que el FMI/UE nos imponen a nosotras,
sobre todo el aumento del IVA.

Piden

   - Acabar con el crédito del FMI y las condiciones fiscales dañinas
   - Justicia Fiscal
   - Auditoría de la Deuda
   - Decir NO a los créditos climáticos y sí a las reparaciones

Besos

Iolanda
PD. me podeis contestar a mi y asi no se satura la lista

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Tim Jones <tim en jubileedebtcampaign.org.uk>
Date: 2012/9/27
Subject: [euroIFInet] Please sign: Statement on Bangladesh-IMF loan
To: debtuk en googlegroups.com, eurodaddebt en googlegroups.com, UK Bretton Woods
Institutions Listserv <bwi-uk en dgroups.org>, EuroIFInet <
euroifi-l en list.ecn.cz>

**
Hi everyone,

Equity-BD in Bangladesh are asking for international sign-ons to a
statement against a recent IMF loan and VAT and trade liberalisation
conditions, for tax justice, for a debt audit and against climate loans.
Equity-BD's message is below, and beneath that is the statement.

You can see the statement and sign-up your organisation at:
http://www.equitybd.org/English/campaign/index2.html

Best wishes,

Tim

(Apologies for cross-posting)

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Dear Friends

The IMF has approved a loan of $987 million to Bangladesh and has already
released the first trench. Recently the IMF had a mission in Dhaka to
review issues compliance on the eve of releasing the second trench.

The loan has attached different stringent conditions which include, import
liberalization, automation of fuel price in withdrawing subsidy,
privatization of state enterprises and introduction of new VAT law.
Bangladeshi progressive civil society continuously protesting this.
Bangladesh is also one of the countries which will be impacted worse in
respect of climate changes.

EquityBD, supported by Jubilee Debt Campaign UK, have initiated a
mobilization. We are requesting organisations to support us by signing a
statement, with the demands to:

• End the IMF loan and damaging tax conditions

• Bring in tax justice

• Audit the debt

• Say no to climate loans, yes to reparations

You will find this in www.equitybd.org, but for direct please kindly follow
the link and sign as organization:
http://www.equitybd.org/English/campaign/index2.html

I hope you sign the campaign and thereby expressing solidarity, building
solidarity in world wide against the anti people role of IMF.

Once the signatures are collected, we hope you will share the statement
with your governments and representatives at the IMF.

Reza, Equity-BD

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________

*No to IMF loan, Yes to Tax Justice*

In April the International Monetary Fund agreed a loan of US$987 million to
be disbursed to the Bangladesh government over the next three years. This
loan will primarily be used to help cope with the balance of payments
crisis which is partly caused by high foreign debt payments. Bangladesh is
already burdened with a large external foreign debt, (about 20% of GDP).
The government has to repay over US$2 billion every year, the equivalent of
over 15 per cent of total government revenue.

As a condition of the loan, the IMF say Bangladesh must liberalise trade by
reducing taxes on imports and bring in a new Value Added Tax (VAT).
Following the condition, the government has reduced the import tax on many
items in the current national budget for the 2012-13 fiscal year and
introduced a new rate of VAT, two percentage points higher than before for
many wholesale and retail level businesses. These measures will worsen
livelihoods for poor people and increase inequality.

The increase in VAT will harm small entrepreneurs, the life-line of the
Bangladesh economy. Increases in VAT are being proposed for essential items
such as rice, lentils and cooking oil. This will only increase malnutrition
and inequality. One-quarter of Bangladeshi’s are undernourished,and for
every 1 taka earned by the poorest 10 per cent, the richest 10 per cent get
7 takas. The removal of import tariffs could prevent the development of
domestic businesses, increase imports, worsening Bangladesh’s balance of
payments, and reduce government revenue which will again create a
dependency to take out news loans from the IMF.

Rather than follow these IMF conditions, the Bangladesh government should
be using the tax system to tackle poverty and inequality, by:

   - Expanding direct taxes, such as a progressive income tax. Progressive
   income taxes are used in many developed countries to collect high
   proportions of revenue. IMF advice to Bangladesh to collect revenue through
   expanding VAT is very regressive for poor people as they have to spend a
   large amount of income on essential good and services.
   - Reducing corruption, thereby making more revenue available. The people
   of Bangladesh are losing approximately US$3 billion every year (4-5% of
   GDP) that should be used for domestic resource mobilization.
   - Focussing VAT on luxury goods rather than basic necessities
   - Increasing taxation on corporate profits, and regulate the removal of
   money from the country by multinational companies and rich individuals

The Bangladeshi people have suffered from paying a high foreign debt for
over thirty years. This will be increased if the government takes out new
loans for mega-projects like Padma Bridge (US$2.9 billion), city fly-over
(US$1 billion) and Dhaka-Chittagong highway expansion (US$1.6 billion).
Since 1990, foreign debt payments each year have averaged over 10 per cent
of government revenue and this is increasing. The current fiscal year
2012-13, the government has allocated US$2.91 billion which is 19% of total
revenue and 12.5% of the total national budget. Over 98 per cent of foreign
‘aid’ to the Bangladesh government is loans rather than grants.Rather than
continuing its dependence on foreign loans, which have not demonstrably
helped the majority of people, Bangladesh should hold an audit into debts
to publicly find out:

   - Who benefited from loans
   - Whether any loans were contracted unjustly or illegally
   - What the impact of continual high debt payments has been
   - Whether and how foreign loans can be used in the future

The Bangladesh government is set to receive $575 million of loans from the
World Bank, Asian Development Bank and UK government for projects to adapt
to the impacts of climate change. This is unjust. These loans will make the
people of Bangladesh pay twice for a problem they had not part in creating.
The people of Bangladesh are owed reparations for the climate crisis caused
by others, not loans which will only serve to increase the claimed
financial debt. It is the people of Bangladesh who are creditors, and owed
a debt by the rich world.

   - End the IMF loan and damaging tax conditions
   - Bring in tax justice
   - Audit the debt
   - Say no to climate loans, yes to reparations

------------------------------------------
Tim Jones
Senior Policy and Campaigns Officer
Jubilee Debt Campaign
The Grayston Centre
28 Charles Square
London
N1 6HT
United Kingdom

T: +44 (0)20 7324 4725

 <http://www.jubileedebtcampaign.org.uk/justice>

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