Strengthening institutions and governance in Latin America and the Caribbean

In recent years, LAC countries have prioritised the fight against corruption and promoted a culture of public integrity for good governance. Through the OECD-Latin America Anti-Corruption Initiative and the OECD Action Plan on Integrity for Good Governance in LAC, the OECD supports the efforts of LAC countries to strengthen legislative, regulatory and institutional frameworks, improve public sector integrity, fight foreign bribery, strengthen international co-operation and engage with the private sector.

The OECD helps to improve taxation and public expenditure policies in LACas a means to support economic growth and income redistribution in the region. By providing a space for policy dialogue through the LAC Fiscal Initiative, we offer policy makers the opportunity to exchange ideas and best practices with experts from relevant OECD committees and other regional and international organisations. Similarly, our tools such as Revenue Statistics in LAC and the Methodology for Assessing Procurement Systems (MAPS) help LAC countries measure the efficiency of their public administration by giving them access to the same standard of data used by OECD countries.

The OECD is supporting several countries in the region to improve their public governance systems. Through in-depth reviews and implementation programmes, the OECD works with national governments to assess the strengths, weaknesses and efficiency of a country’s public administration and governance practices, and helps governments to design their reform agendas. The OECD is also actively engaging with LAC countries to support multi-level governance and decentralisation reforms through in-depth studies, policy dialogue and the development of multi-level governance indicators.

Effective corporate governance policies seek to ensure that corporations contribute to economic development and social progress, thus leading to inclusive growth and the reduction of inequality. Through its OECD Latin America Corporate Governance Networks, the OECD has promoted the implementation of the G20/OECD Principles of Corporate Governance and the OECD Guidelines on Corporate Governance of State-Owned Enterprises. The Networks also share corporate governance best practices, such as the OECD’s new Guidelines on Anti-Corruption and Integrity in SOEs (the ACI Guidelines), which give concrete advice to LAC countries on how to manage more effectively their responsibilities as company owners and make state-owned enterprises more competitive, efficient and transparent.

The OECD is working with many countries in the LAC region to evaluate the impact of current regulations, as well as prepare and implement simpler but more effective rules by promoting dialogue on regulatory policy among public policy experts from the region.  For example, the OECD Regulatory Enforcement and Inspections Toolkit has served as a guide to improve the systems of inspections in Mexico and Peru.