The B20, Business at OECD (BIAC) and the International Organisation of Employers (IOE) released a joint paper, underlining the need to raise business productivity by effectively addressing the private sector’s working capital requirements. Released in the margins of the B20 India Summit, the three leading private sector organizations recommend to G20 leaders a simple, though powerful, effective and concrete policy action to jointly deliver sustainability targets and inclusive long-term economic growth, without committing scarcer public finances.

The joint paper emphasizes that supporting trustworthy interoperable early payment platforms, which are structured on safe principles and requirements such as the Legal Entity Identifier (LEI), can remove barriers to the availability of critical working capital and facilitate cross-border payments. The publication leverages on the “Sustainable Growth Propeller” framework initiated under the B20 Presidency in 2022, and provides pragmatic recommendations to tackle existing obstacles to sustainable business's operations and growth.

Commenting on the announcement, Rick Johnston, Chair of Business at OECD, stated that “the objective of this paper is to make a tangible contribution towards delivering both sustainability targets and inclusive long-term economic growth. We propose concrete steps towards enhancing firms’ productivity by addressing the challenges they face in terms of working capital and payment efficiencies: a perfect example of actionable policy intervention targeting productivity and offering win-win opportunities.”

Moreover, Natarajan Chandrasekaran, Chairman of B20 India, added that “the B20, Business at OECD and IOE joint paper offers a concrete, readily implementable, example of how businesses and governments can deliver a more equitable world and channelising efforts towards climate action and digital inclusion, key to the B20 India Presidency.”

Roberto Suarez Santos, IOE Secretary-General, underlined, “the paper highlights the presence of a significant low hanging fruit: effective early platforms for working capital built along the lines of described in this paper would increase both employment and GDP.”

Gianluca Riccio, Vice Chair of Business at OECD Finance Committee and lead author of the paper, added: “boosting firms’ working capital through early payment platforms at national level can accelerate growth in international trade, enhancing cross-border payments – a G20 priority; while reducing cost of remittances, with benefits domestically in terms of both employment and sustainable growth.”

Please view the full report here.

For further information, please contact:

Business at OECD, Max Jablonowski, Communications and Campaigns Advisor, jablonowski@biac.org
IOE, Jean Milligan, Director of Communications, milligan@ioe-emp.com
B20 India, Sougata Choudhury, B20 India Taskforce Policy Coordinator, sougata.choudhury@cii.in b20secretariat@cii.in

About the organizations:

Established in 1962, Business at OECD (BIAC) stands for policies that enable businesses of all sizes to contribute to economic growth, sustainable development, and societal prosperity. Through Business at OECD, national businesses and employers’ federations representing over 9 million companies provide perspectives to cutting-edge OECD policy debates that shape market-based economies and impact global governance. Our expertise is enriched by the contributions of a wide range of international sector organizations.

The International Organisation of Employers (IOE) is the sole representative of business in social and employment policy debates in the International Labour Organization, across the UN, G20 and other emerging forums. For over 100 years, and on behalf of our more than 150 member countries, we strive to leverage our unique experience, expertise and advocacy to influence debates on the most pressing issues for business and employers worldwide.

The Business Twenty (B20) is the official G20 dialogue with the business community. As the private sector’s voice to the G20, it represents the global business community across all G20 member states and all economic sectors. Formed in 2010, it is the first engagement group of the G20.