Seychelles represented at Commonwealth Finance Ministers Meeting |30 October 2019

Delegates in a souvenir photograph. Minister Loustau-Lalanne is third from right, back row

The Minister for Finance, Trade, Investment and Economic Planning, Maurice Loustau-Lalanne, represented Seychelles at the recent Commonwealth Finance Ministers Meeting (CFMM).

The meeting was held in the margins of the IMF/World Bank Annual Meetings in Washington DC on Thursday October 17, 2019, under the theme ‘Preventing debt crises: the role of creditors and debtors’.

Ministers saw global trade and geopolitical tensions as having ‘intensified’, in a context where global debt has risen to an all-time high, estimated at $19 trillion.

They stressed the need to make debt easier to manage for vulnerable countries, and for them to be eligible for periods of relief to stabilise growth during economic shocks.

Ministers also recognised the potential of technology to improve debt transparency while urging closer collaboration to resolve tax challenges arising from growing digital commerce.

During the meeting, ministers also reviewed a suite of Commonwealth initiatives, including a disaster risk portal to offer streamlined and integrated information on available funds to respond to disasters, and a fin-tech toolkit to help banks leverage innovation in the financial sector.

There was also a presentation on the Commonwealth’s flagship debt management system ‘Commonwealth Meridian’ which is used by 63 countries to manage their debt which combines to a total of $2.5 trillion.

The meeting was chaired by the Minister for Finance of Cyprus, Harris Georgiades, who stated: “Disruptive technologies are challenging the financial system by increasing competition and reshaping conventional business models, thereby fuelling the creation of a whole new kind of financial ecosystem.”

Commonwealth ministers have therefore agreed that the Commonwealth should bring its powerful collective voice to ongoing discussions at the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), particularly on behalf of smaller states. International agreement on digital taxation could enable countries to benefit by taxing large tech giants, even if they do not operate within their jurisdictions.

The next CFMM will be held in October 2020, and will be chaired by Ghana.