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of food, fuel, electricity and transport as well as the expansion of emerging social protectionprogrammes (described in Chapter 3). At the time of writing this report, research into policyresponses showed that, despite an initial expansionary response to the crisis, a growing number ofdeveloping countries were projected to significantly cut government spending, particularly in LatinAmerica. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) expected that 92 of 133 countries would pursuecontractionary fiscal policies in 2014 and would reform old-age pensions and the health sector aspart of a further targeting of social benefits. 48Women are likely to feel the impact of these cuts most acutely because they are over-representedamong front-line service delivery workers in the public sector. Women also depend more than menon public transfers and services to meet their own needs. As unpaid care providers for family andfriends, when public support is reduced, the burden of providing care falls disproportionately onwomen.Fiscal policy and the resources for realizingwomen’s economic and social rightsSince the 1980s, there has been a reduction in thescope for many countries to mobilize resourcesneeded to fund government expenditures, oftenreferred to as a narrowing of ‘fiscal space’. 49Countries in receipt of loans from the IMF wereexpected to simplify the tax structure and broadenthe tax base through a variety of measures, suchas reducing income and corporate tax rates,cutting trade taxes as part of wider liberalizationmeasures and extending value-added taxes (VAT)on consumer goods and services. 50 As a result,many low-income countries reduced trade taxes,causing a significant fall in revenues that was notcompensated for by increases in revenues fromother taxes. 51 This in turn has led to an overallreduction in government tax revenues as a share ofGDP. 52Government revenues as a share of GDP tend toincrease with per capita income, as illustrated for168 countries in Figure 4.4. 53 Low-income countriestypically have a larger share of agriculture andinformal activities that under-contribute to taxrevenues. The tax base of poorer countries is alsolower due to high poverty rates and less overallwealth, and the capacity of public institutions thatcollect taxes is also frequently underdeveloped.Where there are cutbacks to government spending,these may further reduce administrative capacity,making it even more difficult to mobilize resourcesthrough taxation.Figure 4.4 also shows, however, that economiesat similar levels of development (per capitaGDP) exhibit very different capacities to mobilizepublic resources. 54 This suggests that despitelow incomes, many countries could mobilizeadditional resources through appropriate policyand institutional changes. In 2005, the UnitedNations Millennium Project estimated that thegovernments of five developing countries—Bangladesh, Cambodia, Ghana, Uganda and theUnited Republic of Tanzania—should be able togenerate up to an additional 4 per cent of GDPin tax revenue within a decade. 55 The IMF, in itsFiscal Monitor 2013, recognizes that in low- andmiddle-income countries ‘the potential for raisingrevenue is often substantial’. 56 This suggests that‘fiscal space’ is significantly larger than the currentlevel of government revenues would suggest. Howa number of countries have expanded their fiscalspace is discussed in a later section (A rights-basedmacroeconomic policy agenda).Social policies can also be financed throughborrowing. The sustainability of any fiscal205