Hundreds of billions that could have been used for poverty alleviation and economic development lost, finds new report from Global Financial Integrity
WASHINGTON, DC – Africa lost $854 billion in illicit financial outflows from 1970 through 2008, according to a new report to be released today from Global Financial Integrity (GFI). Illicit Financial Flows from Africa: Hidden Resource for Development debuts new estimates for volume and patterns of illicit financial outflows from Africa, building upon GFI’s ground-breaking 2009 report, Illicit Financial Flows from Developing Countries: 2002-2006, which estimated that developing countries were losing as much as $1 trillion every year in illicit outflows. The new Africa illicit flows report is expected to feature prominently at the 3rd Annual Conference of African finance ministers in Malawi, which is currently underway.
Washington, DC — Developing country treasuries are losing approximately $100 billion dollars every year due to trade mispricing, according to a new report available today from Global Financial Integrity (GFI).
WASHINGTON, DC – The UK’s proposal to tackle tax evasion in developing countries by instituting multilateral tax information exchange agreements and requiring multinational corporations to provide country-by-country reporting of profits and revenue could help prevent the loss of as much as $1 trillion from developing countries every year, says Global Financial Integrity (GFI).
In early December of last year, an unusual group of 40 organizations and individuals met at Yale University to discuss illicit capital flows out of developing countries, lack of transparency in the global financial system, and the impact these conditions have on human rights around the world. The meeting brought together experts from the fields of human rights and financial transparency to explore similarities in their work and develop a common agenda.
WASHINGTON, DC — Global Financial Integrity (GFI) released today a statement-dubbed the New Haven Declaration-which debuts a new partnership between humans rights and financial transparency advocacy groups. Today’s announcement follows a meeting of prominent human rights and financial transparency organizations at Yale University in early December, 2009. The groups discussed the link between illicit financial practices, secrecy in global finance and their adverse impact on human rights.
WASHINGTON, DC — Global Financial Integrity (GFI) applauds the on-going work of the U.S. Department of Justice and the Internal Revenue Service towards bringing wealthy tax evading citizens to justice. Following the release today of the previously confidential “annex” of criteria UBS will use to choose which accounts it remits information on, GFI urges consideration of further comprehensive reform of global financial protocols as significant shortcomings remain in the diplomatic and regulatory landscape.
WASHINGTON, DC -“We have the means to end offshore tax abuse if we have the political will to act,” was the message delivered by Carl Levin in his keynote speech for given before dinner guests at the Task Force on Financial Integrity and Economic Development’s conference, Increasing Transparency in Global Finance: A Development Imperative.
WASHINGTON, DC – Global Financial Integrity (GFI) applauds the European Commission’s release of recommendations for actions EU Member States should take to promote “good governance” in tax assessment and collection, such as increasing transparency. Released today, the Commission’s recommendations build on existing EU policy for good governance and the recent G20 conclusions concerning uncooperative tax jurisdictions.
