The World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) have jointly published a guide on the effective administration of public revenues from oil, gas, coal, minerals, and other non-renewable natural resources.
The publication, titled ‘Administering Fiscal Regimes for Extractive Industries: A Handbook,' offers policymakers in developing and emerging market countries guidelines to, inter alia, address growing calls for transparency and accountability in the sector.
7 August 2014: The World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) have jointly published a guide on the effective administration of public revenues from oil, gas, coal, minerals, and other non-renewable natural resources. The publication, titled ‘Administering Fiscal Regimes for Extractive Industries: A Handbook,’ offers policymakers in developing and emerging market countries guidelines to, inter alia, address growing calls for transparency and accountability in the sector.
Remarking on the need for more effective guidelines, the handbook’s author, Jack Calder, former Deputy Director of the United Kingdom Oil Taxation Office, said “Everyone wants a piece of the pie when it comes to revenue windfalls, so centralization of natural resource revenue administration can be politically difficult, but it is key to ensuring quality control, transparency and capable staffing.”
The publication describes a wide range of factors that set non-renewable natural resources apart from other industries, including: a wide range of scale and profitability; exceptional rent-generating potential; high uncertainty and risk; substantial capital investment; long development and operating periods; geographic concentration; high export and import levels; distinctive commercial risk-sharing arrangements; frequent transfers of ownership; a high level of state control and ownership; and a tendency to undermine governance.
These factors confront public administrators of revenues from natural resources with unique challenges, which the report explains in separate chapters on: policy and legal frameworks; organization and cooperation; tax codes, audits, enforcement and other procedures; and governance and transparency.
The publication concludes with recommendations for building the technical and managerial capacity to effective revenue administration, such as training, recruitment, and competitive salaries, needed to attract and retain qualified personnel. [World Bank Press Release] [IMF Video of Publication Launch] [Publication Website: Administering Fiscal Regimes for Extractive Industries] [Publication: Administering Fiscal Regimes for Extractive Industries: A Handbook]