|
11 Dec 2007
– A major outcome of the 2007 United Cities and Local Governments World Congress in Jeju, Korea was the adoption of the "UCLG Policy Paper on Local Finance." The paper contains 25 recommendations for increasing local government access to infrastructure financing, particularly in developing country cities where infrastructure planning and construction have not kept pace with rapid urbanisation.
The UCLG Committee on Local Finance, a network of mayors and representatives of national associations of local governments active in local finance, drafted the policy paper.
The recommendations call on local governments, central governments, donors, and international financial institutions to address urban expansion and the accompanying infrastructure requirements by redirecting development aid, and establishing national strategies to boost local public investment. At the global level, UCLG advocates that at least 20 percent of development aid and debt relief be allocated directly to local governments to enable them to address poverty reduction through public infrastructure provision. At the country level, UCLG proposes boosting local public investment through several courses of action: increased local government autonomy, fiscal decentralisation, regular financial transfers from central to local governments, revenue generation at the local level, and improving the ability of local governments to borrow.
United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG) represents and defends the interests of local governments on the world stage, regardless of the size of the communities they serve. Present in 136 of the 192 UN members states in seven world regions, UCLG’s members include individual cities and national associations of local governments, which represent all the cities and local governments in a single country. Over 1000 cities across 95 countries are direct members of UCLG. 112 Local Government Associations (LGAs) are members of UCLG, representing almost every existing LGA in the world. UCLG’s members represent over half of the world’s total population.
7 Jul 2007
– The Public-Private Infrastructure Advisory Facility (PPIAF) announces a three-year pilot, the Sub-National Development Technical Assistance Program (PPIAF-SND), to help sub-national entities improve their creditworthiness so they can access market-based financing on their own account without sovereign guarantees. The goal of this new program is to help mobilize local capital for improvements in infrastructure services and promote the development of local financial markets.
Responsibility for meeting the enormous demand for new and better infrastructure services in developing countries increasingly has shifted from national to sub-national entities. But these entities, typically local governments or utilities, often lack the policy and institutional frameworks and especially the financial resources to fulfill this responsibility. Filling this financial gap is not easy. Traditional sources of sub-national financing require sovereign guarantees, which are often inadequate because of fiscal constraints at the national level or policies to promote local financial accountability.
The PPIAF-SND program will provide technical assistance grants to support local governments and other sub-national entities:
- Access financing for infrastructure improvements from banks or bond markets without relying on sovereign guarantees
- Obtain a credit rating or improve their rating from a recognized credit rating agency
- Take measures to enhance their creditworthiness to potential lenders with a view to achieving one of the above
Local governments with responsibilities for delivering infrastructure services along with utilities, authorities, special districts, and state-owned enterprises, will be eligible to receive the grants. Development finance institutions with a primary focus on infrastructure lending will also be eligible.
For more information or to access the new SND application go to:
www.ppiaf.org/SNTA.
10 Jan 2007
– Workshop objectives:
- Identify common legal problems that local governments face while engaging international development initiatives.
- To examine actual available mechanisms to establish contracts between local authorities in different countries.
- To share solutions that local governments put into practice
- To examine contract law applicable and litigation mechanisms available
- To solve a series of case - studies in order to learning-by-doing
9 Jan 2006
30 Nov 2005
Read More News »
Updated: 22 Aug 2008
Author: Nachiket Mor, Sanjeev Sehrawat
Updated: 20 Jun 2008
Author: Stephany Griffith-Jones, Ana Teresa Fuzzo de Lima
Updated: 20 Jun 2008
Author: Patricia Clarke Annez
Updated: 20 Jun 2008
Updated: 4 Mar 2008
See All Resources »
|
Having a Municipal Finance Task Force subscription keeps you up-to-date on new information posted to this website.
A summary of relevant, new News Stories, Events, Documents or Related Sites will be e-mailed directly to you.
This service is available to all registered members of this website. Registration is free and open to the public.
Subscribe Now »
|
