WASHINGTON, DC – Following the conclusion of a two day conference titled “Increasing Transparency in Global Finance: A Development Imperative,” the Task Force on Financial Integrity and Economic Development issued the following statement to the members of the G20:
WASHINGTON, DC – Every year developing countries lose as much as $1 trillion due to illicit financial practices such as government corruption, tax evasion, and criminal activity. Today’s pledge from the G20 to increase funding for the IMF and for the developing world are laudable, but these efforts must also address illicit capital flight which remains the greatest impediment to economic development and poverty alleviation.
WASHINGTON, DC – Contrary to UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s statement today that provisions in the G20 Communiqué denote the “start of the end” of tax havens, Global Financial Integrity (GFI) believes the Action Plan agreed to in London today “is more likely just the end of the beginning” of the effort to curtail the activities of jurisdictions that hide financial transactions behind a veil of secrecy.
Increasing transparency has become an uncertain element in the laundry list of reforms, regulations, agreements, and actions expected to be discussed when the G20 meets this week. Of the original three solutions proposed to be addressed by the G20 process: stimulus, regulation, and transparency, it is the first two: stimulus and regulation, which have emerged as dominant themes for Thursday’s meeting. This is a critical misstep as transparency represents the most reasonable and effective means for strengthening and revitalizing the global financial system.
The communiqué following the November 15th meeting of the G20 in Washington was bold and comprehensive, with “strengthening transparency and accountability” well argued and placed ahead of “enhancing sound regulation.” But transparency did not appear in the elements paper preceding the April 2nd meeting in London. Nor did it appear in U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner’s statement following the March 14th finance ministers meeting in Horsham. And it appeared only glancingly—“transparency of exposures to off-balance sheet vehicles”—in the general communiqué following that meeting.
WASHINGTON, DC – Global Financial Integrity Director Raymond Baker released the following statement ahead of the upcoming G20 summit in London.
The global tax deal represents a major reform to the rules governing the international tax system, aiming to bring an end to tax havens and profit-shifting by multinational enterprises (MNEs). By introducing a global minimum tax rate...
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Global Financial Integrity has partnered with hundreds of organizations over the years promoting a range of financial transparency issues to address illicit financial flows including beneficial ownership registries, country-by-country reporting and automatic exchange of tax information among...