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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: New Report Finds Crime, Corruption, and Tax Evasion at Near-Historic Highs in 2010 Illicit Financial Outflows Cost Developing World $859 Billion in 2010, Rebounding Rapidly from Financial Crisis Nearly $6 Trillion Stolen from Poor Countries in Decade between 2001 and 2010 WASHINGTON, DC – Crime, corruption, and tax evasion cost the developing world $858.8 billion in 2010, just below the all-time high of $871.3 billion set in 2008—the year preceding the global financial crisis. The findings are part of a new study released today by Global Financial Integrity (GFI), a Washington-based research and advocacy organization. The report, “Illicit Financial Flows from Developing Countries: 2001-2010,” is GFI’s annual update on the amount of money flowing out of developing economies via crime, corruption and tax evasion, and it is the first of GFI’s reports to include data for the year 2010. Co-authored by GFI Lead Economist Dev Kar and GFI Economist Sarah Freitas, the study is the first by GFI to incorporate a new, more conservative, estimate of illicit financial flows, facilitating comparisons with previous estimates from GFI updates.
Methodology As developing countries begin to loosen capital controls, the possibility exists that the methodology utilized in previous GFI reports—known as the World Bank Residual Plus Trade Mispricing method—could increasingly pick-up some licit capital flows. The methodology introduced in this report— the Hot Money Narrow Plus Trade Mispricing method—ensures that all flow estimates are strictly illicit moving forward, but may omit some illicit financial flows detected in the previous methodology. “The estimates provided by either methodology are still likely to be extremely conservative as they do not include trade mispricing in services, same-invoice trade mispricing, hawala transactions, and dealings conducted in bulk cash,” explained Dr. Kar, who previously served as a senior economist at the International Monetary Fund. “This means that much of the proceeds of drug trafficking, human smuggling, and other criminal activities, which are often settled in cash, are not included in these estimates.” Findings The $858.8 billion of illicit outflows lost in 2010 is a significant uptick from 2009, which saw developing countries lose $776.0 billion under the new methodology. The study estimates the developing world lost a total of $5.86 trillion over the decade spanning 2001 through 2010.1 “This has very big consequences for developing economies,” explained Ms. Freitas, a co-author of the report. “Poor countries lost nearly a trillion dollars that could have been used to invest in healthcare, education, and infrastructure. It’s nearly a trillion dollars that could have been used to pull people out of poverty and save lives.” Dr. Kar and Ms. Freitas’ research tracks the amount of illegal capital flowing out of 150 different developing countries over the 10-year period from 2001 through 2010, and it ranks the countries by magnitude of illicit outflows. According to the report, the 20 biggest exporters of illicit financial flows over the decade are:
For a complete ranking of average annual illicit financial outflows by country, please refer to Table 2 of the report’s appendix on page 36, or download the rankings by average annual illicit outflows here [PDF | 51 KB]. Also revealed are the top exporters of illegal capital in 2010, which were:
An alphabetical listing of illicit financial outflows is available for each country in Table 9 on pg. 62 of the report. You can also download the alphabetical listing of illicit financial flows data for each country here [PDF | 64 KB]. Connections to Previous GFI Studies China, the largest cumulative exporter of illegal capital flight, as well as the largest victim in 2010, was the topic of an October 2012 country-specific report by GFI’s Kar and Freitas. Using the older methodology, “Illicit Financial Flows from China and the Role of Trade Misinvoicing,” found that the Chinese economy suffered $3.79 trillion in illicit financial outflows between 2000 and 2011. “Our reports continue to demonstrate that the Chinese economy is a ticking time bomb,” said Dr. Kar. “The social, political, and economic order in that country is not sustainable in the long-run given such massive illicit outflows.” Mexico, the second-largest cumulative exporter of illicit capital over the decade, was also the topic of a January 2011 GFI report by Dr. Kar. The study, “Mexico: Illicit Financial Flows, Macroeconomic Imbalances, and the Underground Economy,” found that Mexico lost a total of $872 billion in illicit financial flows over the 41-year period from 1970 to 2010. Moreover, illicit outflows were found to drive Mexico’s domestic underground economy, which includes—among other things—drug smuggling, arms trafficking and human trafficking. Possible Solutions Global Financial Integrity advocates that world leaders increase the transparency in the international financial system as a means to curtail the illicit flow of money highlighted by Dr. Kar and Ms. Freitas’ research. Policies advocated by GFI include:
Funding Funding for the new report, “Illicit Financial Flows from Developing Countries: 2001-2010,” was generously provided by the Ford Foundation. ### Footnotes:
Notes to Editors:
Journalist Contacts: Clark Gascoigne |
“Astronomical sums of dirty money continue to flow out of the developing world and into offshore tax havens and developed country banks,” said GFI DirectorGlobal Financial Integrity (GFI) is a Washington, DC-based research and advocacy organization which promotes transparency in the international financial system. |