IMF favors global minimum corporate tax: Chief economist Gita Gopinath

The International Monetary Fund has long favored adoption of a global minimum tax on corporate profits, the Fund's chief economist, Gita Gopinath, told reporters on Tuesday.

Gopinath said current disparities in national corporate tax rates had triggered "a large amount" of tax shifting and tax avoidance, reducing the tax base on which governments could collect revenues to fund needed economic and social spending.

French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said on Tuesday a global deal on cross-border taxation was within reach as he welcomed a pledge by US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen to work on a global corporate minimum rate.