Crime 'drains a trillion dollars a year from developing states'
The Nation

Thailand has featured prominently in two top-10 rankings of countries with staggering illicit capital outflows.

BANGKOK: -- One 2012 study involved 24 other countries that saw a record US$991.2 billion lost to crime, corruption and tax evasion. The other showed $6.6 trillion stolen from 25 countries in the developing world from 2003-12, according to Washington-based Global Financial Integrity (GFI).

In its annual global update released on Monday on its website, GFI said illicit outflows are growing at an inflation-adjusted 9.4 per cent per year - roughly double global GDP growth.

GFI president Raymond Baker said illicit financial flows are the most damaging economic problem plaguing developing and emerging economies.

"These outflows - already greater than the combined sum of all FDI [foreign direct investment] and ODA [official development assistance] flowing into these countries - are sapping roughly a trillion dollars per year from the world's poor and middle-income economies."

"It is simply impossible to achieve sustainable global development unless world leaders agree to address this issue head-on. That's why it is essential for the United Nations to include a specific target next year to halve all trade-related illicit flows by 2030 as part of the post-2015 Sustainable Development Agenda," he said.

The historic high of $991.2 billion in 2012 was a dramatic increase from 2003, when illicit outflows totalled a mere $297.4 billion.

In many parts of the world, illicit flows are growing much faster, particularly in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) and in Sub-Saharan Africa, where the average annual inflation-adjusted rates are 24 per cent and 13 per cent.

Illicit financial flows averaged 3.9 per cent of the developing world's GDP. Sub-Saharan Africa suffered the most - 5.5 per cent - followed by developing Europe (4.4 per cent), Asia (3.7 per cent), MENA (3.7 per cent) and the Western Hemisphere (3.3 per cent).

Illicit outflows were roughly 1.3 times the $789.4 billion in foreign direct investment and 11 times the $89.7 billion in net official development aid that these economies received in 2012.

To curb the opacity in the global financial system, which facilitates these outflows, GFI suggests that governments should establish public registries of meaningful beneficial ownership information on all legal entities. It says financial regulators should require all banks should know the true beneficial owners of any account opened in their financial institution and authorities adopt and fully implement all of the Financial Action Task Force's anti-money laundering recommendations.

Regulators and law enforcement officials should also ensure that all anti-money laundering regulations already on the books are strongly enforced, while policymakers should require multi-national companies to publicly disclose their revenues, profits, losses, sales, taxes paid, subsidiaries and staff levels on a country-by-country basis.

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/national/Crime-drains-a-trillion-dollars-a-year-from-develo-30250006.html


-- The Nation 2014-12-17

It may drain a trillion dollars from developing states but is certainly good for many personal bank accounts.

I for one, am offended by the inclusion of Thailand on this list of developing states where so much money is lost to illegal activities. How can they possibly mistake Thailand for a 'developing' state?

I for one, am offended by the inclusion of Thailand on this list of developing states where so much money is lost to illegal activities. How can they possibly mistake Thailand for a 'developing' state?

Would "declining" be the correct "opposite" to use to describe Thailand ...?

I for one, am offended by the inclusion of Thailand on this list of developing states where so much money is lost to illegal activities. How can they possibly mistake Thailand for a 'developing' state?

I mean there is a construction sites near my place where they are developing a roof 5 watching 3 smoking 1 staring at a cockroach run up the wall and 1 contemplating working with a welder in hand , this is developement thai style.

Apparently crime does pay

Thailand certainly has a long way to go on many fronts, one wonders if they will ever get to that finish line .

what about the wealthy who have massive bank accounts, not just from corruption or theft, ummm, isnt that taking cash out of circulation

Apparently crime does pay

It does....unfortunately, my forte was always to be a crook........I took the wrong path!!

"Regulators and law enforcement officials should also ensure that all anti-money laundering regulations already on the books are strongly enforced,"

I think that most of us on here would be surprised if it wasn't the regulators and law enforcement officials that are lining their pockets at the expense of impoverished nations like Thailand. I had to go to a land office yesterday where I was asked if I was interested in buying some land for 30million baht. The owner? A law enforcement official at the land office.

Look's to me like they are attempting to divide sectors of ecomonies into either black or white, when in reality 99.9% is grey....

Apparently crime does pay

It does....unfortunately, my forte was always to be a crook........I took the wrong path!!

Made the wrong mistake marrying into an HONEST local BKK family myself!!! haha.

If they know how much is leaving, they must know who owns that money. So why not just stop it at the source?