SANTIAGO, Chile (CMC) – The UN Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) says fiscal authorities from central banks as well as economy and finance ministries from the region and Spain will this week debate fiscal policy, debt and growth in the region.

ECLAC said the authorities will meet on Monday and Tuesday with international experts at the 16th regional seminar at ECLAC’s headquarters in Chile.

The annual meeting promotes the discussion of current affairs in the field of public finances and the role of the state in the region’s economies.

The two-day meeting is being co-sponsored by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Bank, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and the Inter- American Development Bank (IDB), with the support of Germany’s federal ministry for economic cooperation and development.

ECLAC said the seminar will address the issues of fiscal policy, debt and growth, and proposals will be presented that aim to construct quality public finances, incorporating the objectives of fiscal sustainability as well as income distribution and economic growth.

ECLAC said it would also present the “fiscal panorama of Latin America and the Caribbean 2014,” which summarizes the fiscal situation in the region and addresses timely topics, such as the relationship of fiscal policy to income distribution and the initiatives that seek to improve the quality and transparency of public spending.

Delegates will also discuss fiscal income, natural resources and green taxes, and the ECLAC said the third edition of the report, “Revenue statistics in Latin America 1990-2012,” will be unveiled.

The report “systematises regional tax statistics and contains a special chapter on fiscal income and basic products,” ECLAC said.

ECLAC said the public finance workshop 2014 will be held to “examine the effects of fiscal action on income distribution and the policies needed to improve them, both in terms of taxes and public spending”.