PANELISTS
- Mario Mansour, Division Chief, Tax Policy, Fiscal Affairs Department, IMF
- Mamta Murthi, Vice President for Human Development, World Bank
- Karambu Muthaura, Policy and Tax Advisory Division, Kenya Revenue Authority
- Sania Nishtar, Senator, Senate of Pakistan; Former Special Assistant of the Prime Minister on Poverty Alleviation
MODERATOR
- Amanda Glassman, Executive Vice President and Senior Fellow, Center for Global Development
CGD and many other experts find that health taxes – levied on tobacco, alcohol, and sugar-sweetened beverages – can play a part in boosting revenue in low- and middle-income countries while also being a highly cost effective “best buy” intervention to support better health outcomes. Despite this, action on health taxes has understandably slowed during the pandemic, and IMF programs’ focus on health tax measures has significantly diminished compared to the pre-pandemic period.
Now is the time to catch up. International financial organizations (IFIs) and country governments have an important opportunity to ensure health taxes move forward more rapidly. Join CGD for a conversation on how the IMF and World Bank can build on their track record in tobacco, alcoholic, and sugary beverage taxes to help low- and middle-income countries bounce back from the COVID-19 pandemic.
This event is the first of a series hosted by CGD and partners that focus on challenges and opportunities for health taxes implementation at the national, regional, and global levels. Tune in for the second event on May 4, where experts will consider opportunities for health taxes in developing Asia where non-communicable diseases have been rising rapidly, exacerbated by unhealthy diets and consumption of tobacco and alcohol.
If you have questions for our panelists, please submit them to events@cgdev.org, tweet @CGDev #CGDTalks, or submit your comments via YouTube.
