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Vietnam feasibility study - EITI

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54<br />

<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>

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