Revenue Watch Institute, give some of us oil-cursed citizens the Resource Mis-Governance Index instead

Again, May 2013, the Revenue Watch Institute presents its “Resource Governance Index”, and again I have to sit there being sold the subliminal message that even in a country like mine, where the central government receives directly over 97 percent of all the countries exports, things could be fine and dandy in terms of “governance”. 

Do these experts really believe that they could have a chance for any good governance in their country if their government was receiving directly over 97 percent of all their countries exports? I guess the only way to do that is to be either a communists or a radical supporter of some absolute monarchy. 

The final composite score, which will make up the index that more than 99 percent will refer to, even adds up the different components without even weighing these with relation to how much the natural resource revenues means for each particular country. 

Why can’t they just make a cutoff and exclude all those countries where the governments receive directly over X amount of exports or of fiscal revenue from natural resources from participating in a Resource Governance Index? If they want to cover these countries let these participate in a Resource Mis-Governance Index instead. 

Do these experts not know they will be utilized by the illusionists? For instance in my country, Venezuela, it would not surprise me if the government now call upon us to celebrate the fact Venezuela has been placed, by experts, among the top third of all the countries in the world in terms of resource governance? 

Why do you make our goal as oil-cursed-citizens to reclaim directly some of the oil revenues, in cash, so as to level the playing field just a little? 

Don’t you understand that, as is, we citizen do not live in a nation, we live in somebody else’s good business? 

Or is it you want to have a piece of “somebody else’s good business”, as an assistant to the illusionist? I pray not.

We oil-cursed citizens, we do not live in a nation, only in somebody else’s good business.

There I was explaining to some the impossibility of being a democracy when more than 97 percent of all the countries export revenues goes directly into the coffers of the government and as is the case of my Venezuela. 

And then Nakibuuka Maxensia Takirambule, a woman from a health sector NGO in Uganda observed: “Mr. I know exactly what you mean, we do not live in a nation but only in somebody else’s good business”. 

Boy how the truth hurts! 

El Universal

Call 1 877 JOE 4 OIL

Giving out Joe's number to the poor in Venezuela

Comments on IMF’s Guide on Natural Resource Revenue Transparency

The IMF is seeking comments on the revision of its Code of Good Practices on Fiscal Transparency and related instruments. The on-line consultation process is open until February 10, 2013. 

Specifically it asks: Should the Guide on Natural Resource Revenue Transparency be revised as part of this exercise? If so, what revisions should be made to the structure, format, and content of the Guide? 

Washington January 30, 2013 

Dear Sir, 

As an oil-cursed citizen I would hold that any information that is not easily and clearly understood by the citizens has nothing to do with real transparency, because the fundamental reason for any transparency is to extract real government accountability to the ordinary citizen and not to someone else, like a transparency “expert”. 

Therefore I would ask for the Guide on Natural Resource Revenue Transparency to be revised so as to include the following: 

1. For oil producing countries the most important data are: how many barrels of oil have been extracted, what were the costs incurred doing this, and how much net revenue the government received from oil, no matter how, on a monthly per citizen basis. And this should be reported in the major media on a monthly basis. 

2. If total oil revenues signify more than certain levels of the nation’s total export revenues, of its GDP, or of all Government tax revenues collected from citizens, then there must be an independent Ombudsman Office in charge of supervising and preparing the information. 

3. There should also be a monthly report that indicates the amount of subsidy or taxes, per liter or gallon of gasoline sold domestically, and calculated as if the gasoline could have been sold at international prices. 

4. I also urge the IMF, in the name of the same transparency, to report to the citizen of the oil-extracting countries how much fiscal revenue, per liter or gallon of gasoline is generated by all the taxes on its consumption in the oil-consuming countries. Quite often that amount surpasses all the gross revenues of the country that sacrifices the non-renewable resource forever and this even at current prices of oil. 

Thanks 

Per Kurowski 

President 

Petropolitan A.C. 

Venezuela 

http://petropolitan.blogspot.com/

http://theoilcurse.blogspot.com/