Vietnam feasibility study - EITI
Vietnam feasibility study - EITI
Vietnam feasibility study - EITI
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<strong>EITI</strong> report of Nigeria indicates a discrepancy between what the company claim to pay to the<br />
government and what the Central Bank of Nigeria announces to receive from the company, of<br />
230 million naira. After undertaking further audit by comparing receipts and explanatory report,<br />
the discrepancy was reduced to 8.5 million naira (RWI, 2008). Therefore, the <strong>EITI</strong> report helps the<br />
government to recover substantial revenues.<br />
3. Reinforce broader anti-corruption and good governance agendas. Effective <strong>EITI</strong> programs can make<br />
corrupt practices more difficult to hide. By promoting transparency in an area where secrecy is<br />
often the norm, <strong>EITI</strong> participation can help establish precedents for improving transparency in<br />
other areas of government.<br />
4. Build citizen trust in public institutions. When elected officials use <strong>EITI</strong> to promote openness and<br />
public discussion about how the government receives and spends revenue, citizens may feel<br />
empowered and better connected to the policy process; more confident that their interests will<br />
be taken into consideration in government decision-making; and more likely to believe that they<br />
can play a role in holding their government accountable.<br />
5. Promote reduced hostilities between governments, companies and communities or citizens. Extractive<br />
industries tend to be disruptive to the communities in which they operate. Since they involve<br />
physical upheaval of land and workers from outside the community (and sometimes outside the<br />
country), there tends to be hostility, in extreme cases leading to conflict. The government and the<br />
companies often blame each other. Transparency can build trust among these actors, and <strong>EITI</strong><br />
can create a safe forum for dialogue, understanding and resolution.<br />
6. Improve the investment climate. A country’s implementation of <strong>EITI</strong> sends a signal to international<br />
investors and companies that the government is committed to strengthening transparency and<br />
accountability. The country may be perceived as a more attractive destination for investment,<br />
which may spur economic growth in other sectors. In the longer-term, access to cheaper capital<br />
may increase as the country’s risk ratings improve. For instance, after deciding to implement the<br />
<strong>EITI</strong> in 4/2010, Moody’s Investors Service upgraded the sovereign debt of Indonesia from Ba2 to<br />
Ba1, which resulted in Indonesia being just below the BRIC nations of India and Brazil. In 2/2011,<br />
Fitch Ratings upgraded Indonesia’s sovereign rating outlook to BB+ positive from BB+ stable.<br />
In order to assess the benefits of implementing <strong>EITI</strong>, RWI has carried out a survey on the opinion of the<br />
civil society in 24 <strong>EITI</strong> implementing countries. The findings indicate that the most visible benefits are the<br />
increase of the dialog between stakeholders accounting for 92% of the respondents’ opinion and access<br />
information on government revenues (71%) (RWI, 2011). Other benefits derived from implementing <strong>EITI</strong><br />
include greater political stability and improvement of the investment climate (Fig.6).<br />
Increased dialogue between stakeholders<br />
Increased or improved public access to<br />
information on government revenues<br />
Increased trust between stakeholders<br />
Strengthened govermance and management<br />
of the extractive industries<br />
Strengthened accountability of the<br />
govermment for extractive revenues<br />
Prevention and/or resolution of conict<br />
based around the extractives sector<br />
Greater economic and political stability<br />
Improved investment climate<br />
The Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative and the Implementation Perspective of <strong>Vietnam</strong><br />
0 5 10 15 20 25<br />
Figure 6. Benefits of implementing <strong>EITI</strong>