Public sector reform
Equal access to health and other services require adequate funding of the state. Through its programme on Financing the State, CMI has deepened its understanding of the role of the tax system in the context of decentralisation reforms, its impact on small and medium sized enterprises, and its role in state-building. Promoted by the International Monetary Fund and transnational tax organisations, tax reform in the developing world has unfortunately been driven by economic and fiscal considerations only – and by the perceived problems and needs of the richer parts of the world. A reform agenda focused on issues of state building in the poorer countries would look substantially different. The programme recently made a significant contribution to the Norwegian Expert Commission of Inquiry into Capital Flight from Developing Countries. Revenues from natural resources are another important source of income in many low income countries. Through the Angola programme, a large joint research programme with the Centro de Estudos e Investigação Científica (CEIC) at the Universidade ≤
Some health stations are almost abandoned. Patients do not show up. This is a public health dispensary serving a rural population in Tanzania. Photo: Ida Lindkvist
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