Full Title: IMF Working Paper: How Large Are Global Energy Subsidies?
Author(s): David Coady, Ian Parry, Louis Sears, and Baoping Shang
Publisher(s): International Monetary Fund (IMF)
Publication Date: May 1, 2015
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Description (excerpt):
This paper provides a comprehensive, updated picture of energy subsidies at the global and regional levels. It focuses on the broad notion of post-tax energy subsidies, which arise when consumer prices are below supply costs plus a tax to reflect environmental damage and an additional tax applied to all consumption goods to raise government revenues. Post-tax energy subsidies are dramatically higher than previously estimated and are projected to remain high. These subsidies primarily reflect underpricing from a domestic (rather than global) perspective, so that unilateral price reform is in countries’ own interests. The potential fiscal, environmental, and welfare impacts of energy subsidy reform are substantial.