[ap-intact] INFO: Preventing illicit financial flows for financing development in Asia Pacific
Many of the countries that struggle to finance their basic development needs such as schools, hospitals, and infrastructure might have easier access to much larger development budgets if they could prevent financial resources from illicitly flowing out of their countries.
“Coming to Grips with Illicit Financial Flows in Asia-Pacific”, a groundbreaking study by Global Financial Integrity, the United Nations Development Programme, and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime highlights the lack of attention to this issue in the development agenda. Domestic revenues critical for development, often bigger than the official development assistance received by aid-dependent countries, are diverted from these countries due to illicit financial flows.
And in middle-income countries where financing for development is not an issue, activities fuelling these flows such as corruption, organised crime, and drug smuggling undermine governance, rule of law, and security.
The problem is particularly significant in the Asia-Pacific region. According to Global Financial Integrity, Asia-Pacific accounts for 39.6 per cent of total illicit outflows from developing countries, the largest share among regions in terms of volume.
The regional study analyses both illicit inflows and outflows due to trade misinvoicing for Bangladesh, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Nepal from 2002-2011. It brings a new perspective by looking at the problem and related solutions not only in the Least Developed Countries, but also in theMiddle-Income Countries, which are the major drivers of illicit financial flows in the region.
The recommendations provided by the study paper on measures to curtail illicit flows can be accessed by downloading the overall study for free at this link: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B6d01Hc8rvmhUExnOUFHV0h6cDQ/view
“Coming to Grips with Illicit Financial Flows in Asia-Pacific”, a groundbreaking study by Global Financial Integrity, the United Nations Development Programme, and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime highlights the lack of attention to this issue in the development agenda. Domestic revenues critical for development, often bigger than the official development assistance received by aid-dependent countries, are diverted from these countries due to illicit financial flows.
And in middle-income countries where financing for development is not an issue, activities fuelling these flows such as corruption, organised crime, and drug smuggling undermine governance, rule of law, and security.
The problem is particularly significant in the Asia-Pacific region. According to Global Financial Integrity, Asia-Pacific accounts for 39.6 per cent of total illicit outflows from developing countries, the largest share among regions in terms of volume.
The regional study analyses both illicit inflows and outflows due to trade misinvoicing for Bangladesh, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Nepal from 2002-2011. It brings a new perspective by looking at the problem and related solutions not only in the Least Developed Countries, but also in theMiddle-Income Countries, which are the major drivers of illicit financial flows in the region.
The recommendations provided by the study paper on measures to curtail illicit flows can be accessed by downloading the overall study for free at this link: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B6d01Hc8rvmhUExnOUFHV0h6cDQ/view