January 2018 News and Analysis from NRGI

News from NRGI
1 February 2018

Highlights

Natural Resources for Sustainable Development: The Fundamentals of Oil, Gas and Mining Governance

This free, online course gives learners an understanding of the key challenges and opportunities that come with managing extractive industry investments for sustainable development. It begins 5 February. The course is delivered in English with French, Spanish and Russian transcripts available. Register today. (A separate Arabic-only edition of the course is also offered.)

U.S. Vacuum in Global Governance Opens Space for Others
As the World Economic Forum kicked off, NRGI’s Daniel Kaufmann and co-author Vinod Thomas wrote in the Financial Times that East Asia and Latin America's economic prospects hinge crucially on good governance and corruption control.

Events

What Will it Take to Move Beyond GDP?
What is the best way to assess a nation’s prosperity over time? On 5 February in Washington, D.C., the Brookings Institution and the World Bank will co-host a panel of experts, including NRGI's Daniel Kaufmann. Register to attend in person or to view the webcast.

2018 Mining Indaba
This annual conference brings together investors, mining companies, governments and other stakeholders from around the world. NRGI's Erica Westenberg will speak at two events at this year's edition, both on 7 February.

Spotlight on Data

Generating Government Revenue from the Sale of Oil and Gas: New Data and the Case for Improved Commodity Trading Transparency

In-kind 2016 payments disclosed by companies covered by payments-to-governments laws, as a percentage of all disclosed payments

This briefing reveals that in-kind payments made to national oil companies (NOCs) in the form of physical oil and gas can account for the majority of the overall payments that trading companies make to governments. The Resource Governance Index shows that many NOCs in oil-producing countries score poorly in indicators that assess their governance and disclosure practices in relation to the sale of these important state assets.

Video

Natural Resources: Deterring Corruption and Improving Commodities Trading Transparency
Daniel Kaufmann presented the findings of the Resource Governance Index and used them to promote the critical importance of transparency and commodity trading payments at the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies in Geneva. Prior to the event, Kaufmann sat down with International Development Policy editor-in-chief Gilles Carbonnier to discuss the index, corruption, state-owned enterprises and more.

Publications

Guide to Extractive Sector State-Owned Enterprise Disclosures
Only 9 of the 81 state-owned enterprises (SOEs) assessed in the 2017 Resource Governance Index achieved a good standard of transparency and accountable governance. This guide provides a practical reference for SOE managers to use as they develop their disclosures.

Premature Funds: How Overenthusiasm and Bad Advice Can Leave Countries Poorer
Countries rich in oil and minerals commonly use sovereign wealth funds to store a share of their natural resource wealth. But over the last decade, a new trend has emerged: governments creating funds when resource revenues are small, distant or uncertain. This is another manifestation of the “presource curse.”

Natural Resource Federalism: Considerations for Myanmar

Drawing primarily on case studies from the Asia-Pacific region, this report presents policy-makers with a framework for thinking through the range of natural resource governance responsibilities and the models used by different countries for conferring greater influence to subnational institutions. (Summary available in Myanmar language.)

Blog

Uncovering the Impacts of Phosphate Mining on Tunisian Women
Phosphate mining has long served as an important component of Tunisia’s economy, but many women in the phosphate-rich Gafsa region say the industry has negative and gender-specific impacts.

Guinea’s National Petroleum Office Takes First Contract Transparency Steps
It is encouraging to see the young institution incorporate the contract disclosure requirement of the country's recent petroleum code as it develops its website.

How Can Journalists Overcome Extractives Sector Opacity?
In many cases, private companies and the government prevent media from accessing existing sources of free information. Learn how NRGI addresses these challenges in its media training program.

From Governance Structures to Gender Inclusion
A young Mozambican lawyer (and member of the African Mining Legislation Atlas project) reflects on her experiences at an NRGI-sponsored regional extractive industries knowledge hub course.

Les participants guinéens de l’université d’été partagent leurs connaissances au retour