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5 days ago | 
ictd.ac | Max Gallien |Umair Javed
Each successive federal government budget reaffirms the scale of Pakistan’s fiscal crisis. This year’s was no different. With debt-servicing and pension payment requirements consuming over half of the federal government’s expenditure and a tax-to-GDP ratio languishing at just over 10 per cent — well below countries at similar income levels — the budget exercise is largely an exercise in harnessing revenue.
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6 days ago | 
dawn.com | Max Gallien |Umair Javed
EACH successive federal government budget reaffirms the scale of Pakistan’s fiscal crisis. This year’s was no different. With debt-servicing and pension payment requirements consuming over half of the federal government’s expenditure and a tax-to-GDP ratio languishing at just over 10 per cent — well below countries at similar income levels — the budget exercise is largely an exercise in harnessing revenue.
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2 months ago | 
dawn.com | Umair Javed |Max Gallien
THE last few years have proven to be immensely difficult for low-income households in Pakistan. High rates of inflation and low economic growth have exacerbated poverty and heightened the importance of redistributive welfare mechanisms. One such mechanism practised widely across Pakistan, and the Muslim world in general, is zakat. Zakat constitutes an annual payment amounting to approximately 2.5 per cent of wealth held by an individual and represents one of the five pillars of Islam.
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2 months ago | 
theghanareport.com | Max Gallien |Martin Hearson |Mary Abounabhan |Grace Tsotsoo Quaye
The first budget speech of Ghana’s new government on 11 March painted a picture of an economy in crisis, facing high debt and fiscal mismanagement.
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2 months ago | 
ictd.ac | Max Gallien |Martin Hearson |Mary Abounabhan
The first budget speech of Ghana’s new government on 11 March painted a picture of an economy in crisis, facing high debt and fiscal mismanagement. The finance minister, Cassiel Ato Forson, acknowledged that key International Monetary Fund performance targets would be missed and announced drastic spending cuts. However, most Ghanaians just wanted to know whether the minister would announce the scrapping of the country’s electronic transfer levy (or e-tax), as he’d indicated he would.
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Mar 30, 2025 | 
theconversation.com | Max Gallien |Martin Hearson |Mary Abounabhan
The first budget speech of Ghana’s new government on 11 March painted a picture of an economy in crisis, facing high debt and fiscal mismanagement. The finance minister, Cassiel Ato Forson, acknowledged that key International Monetary Fund performance targets would be missed and announced drastic spending cuts. However, most Ghanaians just wanted to know whether the minister would announce the scrapping of the country’s electronic transfer levy (or e-tax), as he’d indicated he would.
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Mar 26, 2025 | 
ictd.ac | Max Gallien |Umair Javed
Every year, hundreds of millions of Muslims across the world pay a proportion – broadly 2,5% – of their wealth as zakat, one of the five pillars of Islam. On the occasion of Ramadan, when most zakat is paid, we highlight three preliminary findings emerging from a new nationally representative survey of 7,500 Sunni Pakistanis conducted in 2024.
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Nov 19, 2024 | 
ictd.ac | Martin Hearson |Max Gallien |Frederik Heitmüller
The G20 Summit kicked off yesterday in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, bringing together leaders from the world’s largest economies to discuss issues of global importance, particularly those surrounding . The Summit is a culmination of negotiations throughout the year where member countries are expected to come to an agreement on ways to deal with identified global challenges.
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Sep 26, 2024 | 
ictd.ac | Max Gallien |Stephanie Alkoussa |Development’s research programme |Colette Nyirakamana
Twenty-two tax and finance professionals mostly from countries across Africa successfully completed ICTD’s last module for the Research on Tax and Development course in Accra earlier this month. The course, which has been delivered by ICTD for nearly ten years, equips participants with a strong understanding of the current tax and development landscape, and teaches them basic research methodologies, supporting them to develop their own research projects.
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Sep 12, 2024 | 
ictd.ac | Colette Nyirakamana |Max Gallien |Development’s research programme
Taxes are not just about money and not just for economists. Using as a starting point recent flashpoints such as the E-levy and recent tax protests in Ghana and other parts of the continent, the panel will show the connection between taxation and wider political and social issues. This interactive panel will discuss the relationship between taxes and trust in the state, elections and public mobilisation, informality, and gendered social relations.
