Governments Commit to “Substantially Reduce Illicit Financial Flows by 2030”
Development Accord Seeks to Curb an Estimated $1 Trillion in Annual Outflows
ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia – Global Financial Integrity (GFI), the Africa Progress Panel (APP) and Jubilee USA applauded the global commitment made today at the Third Financing for Development Conference (FfD3) to reduce the massive flow of illicit funds from developing country economies. For the first time international consensus was reached on the importance of an issue that has been at the forefront of efforts by hundreds of research and development organizations for the last ten years. The negotiations concluded today and formal adoption of the document will take place on Thursday.
The Most Important Step that Can Be Taken Toward Equitable, Sustainable Development in the Years Ahead Is Legitimate Trade
Plastic buckets from the Czech Republic at $970 each? Brown sugar from Turkey going for $240 per pound? Or weed whackers shipped to Venezuela at $12,300 apiece?
These are all examples of the troubling and growing phenomenon known as trade misinvoicing — the fraudulent over- and under-invoicing of international trade transactions to secretly move money, covering the proceeds of crime, corruption, and tax evasion.
GFI Spokespersons Available for Comment and Updates on Financing for Development (FfD), Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), Illicit Financial Flows, Trade Misinvoicing
ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia / WASHINGTON, DC – The third Financing for Development Conference (FfD) will take place in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, July 13-16, and Global Financial Integrity will be on the ground advocating for specific, measurable and achievable targets to significantly reduce illicit financial flows.
This process marks a momentous opportunity to create a sustained path for helping developing countries address the nearly US$1 trillion that flows out of their economies illicitly each year. Of that amount approximately $730 billion is moved offshore through trade misinvoicing (i.e. trade fraud). The related tax loss, coupled with the potential investment resources that are lost, represent significant costs to governance and development efforts in poor countries.
Illicit Financial Flows Have “Outsized Impact on Poorest Countries”
FfD Negotiators Urged to Target Illicit Financial Flows and Trade Misinvoicing
WASHINGTON, DC – Illicit financial flows (IFFs), stemming from crime, corruption, and tax evasion, have an outsized impact on the world’s poorest countries, according to a new study released today by Global Financial Integrity (GFI), a Washington, DC-based research and advisory organization. Titled “Illicit Financial Flows and Development Indices: 2008–2012,” the report also finds strong correlations between higher illicit outflows and higher levels of poverty and economic inequality.
African Nation Lost US$11.7 Billion in Illegal Capital Flight from 2000 through 2009, Writes GFI Economist
WASHINGTON, DC – Corruption, kickbacks and bribery are on the rise in Ethiopia, according to a forthcoming report from Global Financial Integrity, a Washington-based research and advocacy organization. According to the study, illicit financial flows out of the African nation nearly doubled to US$3.26 Billion in 2009 over the previous year, with corruption, kickbacks and bribery accounting for the vast majority of that increase.
