Sixty-six countries fail at governing oil
The majority of governments that are leading oil and gas economies have been inadequately managing their sectors. This is according to the 2017 Resource Governance Index.
The Index reveals that 66 countries were found to be weak, poor or failing in their governance of extractive industries. It reveals too that less than 20 percent of the 81 countries assessed, achieved good or satisfactory overall ratings. The crosscountry study, which was conducted by the Natural Resource Governance Institute (NRGI) incorporates existing assessments of countries’ “enabling environments.” The Institute said that this is a measure of how well citizens can access and use information, freely work together to voice their concerns and hold their governments to account, and of the quality of institutions in the areas of administration, rule of law and corruption control. Index data show that Norway exhibits the best governance of natural resources, followed closely by Chile, the United Kingdom and Canada in the top-most “good” performance category. Eritrea exhibits the worst resource governance and receives a failing grade in the index, with Turkmenistan, Libya, Sudan and Equatorial Guinea among others also rated as failing. Some middle-income countries such as Colombia, Indonesia, Ghana, Mongolia, Peru, Mexico and Botswana achieved good or satisfactory overall ratings.
Burkina Faso places highest among the low-income countries studied. “Good governance of extractive industries is a fundamental step out of poverty for the 1.8 billion poor citizens living in the 81 countries we assessed in the Resource Governance Index,” said Daniel Kaufmann, NRGI President and CEO. “It is encouraging that dozens of countries are adopting extractives laws and regulations, but often these are not matched by meaningful action in practice.” NRGI notes, however, that the gap between law and practice is larger in countries where corruption is systemic. It said that this gap occurs in many policy areas of extractive industries including environmental and social impacts, and the sharing of resource revenues by national governments with local authorities and is particularly problematic for communities living near extraction sites. (Kaieteurnews)