Mining enclaves and taxation

Abstract

This paper examines certain macroeconomic effects of major mining projects in developing countries, paying special attention to the case of Papua New Guinea. It goes on to assess the contribution that such projects can make to economic development indirectly through their contributions to government revenue. This paper reviews existing evidence on the linkage effects of foreign investment in mining projects in developing countries and presents as new evidence the results of a study on the macroeconomic effects of major mining projects in Papua New Guinea. Considerable support is found for the proposition that such projects tend to perform as enclaves, having only weak direct links with host national economies. This paper stresses the importance of applying fiscal arrangements which can be expected to appropriate a large share of the mineral rent from intra-marginal mining projects while preserving the incentive to invest. Fiscal arrangements of this type are being applied in Papua New Guinea and are indeed able to capture very large benefits for the country. In Papua New Guinea the enclave nature of large-scale mining projects is consistent with their making large contributions to progress towards national objectives, and this paper argues that given the application of appropriate fiscal arrangements, this conclusion can be extended to other developing countries.