It is time for the Gulf to start taxing its citizens, Christine Lagarde told finance ministers at the Arab Fiscal Forum in Abu Dhabi yesterday.

Calling tax powers “the lifeblood of modern states”, Ms Lagarde, the managing director of the IMF, said Gulf states should bring in VAT, place a “greater emphasis” on corporation tax, property tax and excise duties. The region should also prepare itself for personal income taxes, she said.

“Higher government revenue would create much- needed fiscal room for manoeuvre, and allow for more spending on … infrastructure, health care and education,” she said.

Gulf budgets have been hit as oil prices declined from above US$110 per barrel in June 2014 to less than $30 per barrel in January this year. This has led to Gulf countries running double-digit deficits. Of the Gulf states, only Kuwait and Qatar ran deficits below 10 per cent of GDP last year.

That has led the IMF to call for Gulf states to increase ­taxes and cut public spending, as the region struggles to get its finances in order.

“The size and likely persistence of this external shock means that all oil exporters will have to adjust by reducing spending and increasing revenue,” Ms Lagarde said. “Most members of the GCC are in a position where they can pace their adjustment over several years and therefore limit their impact on growth.”

She said: “It is worth remembering that GCC economies have made large fiscal adjustments in the past – and I am confident that they can do it again.” In the 1980s, a global collapse in oil prices led Gulf states to cut capital spending to shore up their finances.

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IMF managing director

■ Christine Lagarde speaks exclusively to The National

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Gulf states are in negotiations over the terms of a region-wide introduction of VAT, which a UAE minister said would probably be introduced in “two to three years”. The tax would include exemptions for basic food items, education and health care.

The UAE would need to introduce new legislation to levy the tax, which would not be collected until 18 months after the passage of the new law.

While most analysts agree that the Gulf should proceed with taxes and slowing public spending, some have previ­ously pointed out that cutting capital spending could hinder the country’s diversification efforts.

“Ideally, a country would continue with its capital spending but cut down on its current spending,” Jason Tuvey, the emerging markets economist at Capital Economics, said this month.

“But the politics of the Gulf are such that it is always the capital spending that gets cut first. It is much easier to cancel projects than it is to cut the government wage bill.”

“Past policy choices exacerbated the negative shock from oil price falls: lower government spending led to a shrinking of the non-oil sector, compounding the contraction in the oil sector and leading to a fall in overall growth,” Nasser Saidi, Lebanon’s former economy minister, wrote in a recent editorial.

“Instead of a pro-cyclical policy option, GCC countries need to adjust spending programmes gradually and reduce the size of government to the extent that the decline in oil prices is more likely to be permanent.”

abouyamourn@thenational.ae

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