Financial Transparency Coalition

In May, the Italian energy plant Eni discovered around ten trillion cubic feet of natural gas off the shore of Mozambique, increasing the estimated reserves of Mozambican gas above 50 trillion cubic feet. This discovery placed the East African nation in the spotlight of economic development and energy production. On the other hand, Mozambique’s new intra-regional competition with Kenya and Tanzania, investment by Europeans, and lack of solid economic foundations create the possibility of corruption. Therefore, as the country enjoys a boost to its GDP, only an effective, transparent control of finances will ensure a parallel benefit to its...

The Department of Good News brought us a great story today. The Thomas Reuters Foundation - who, among other things, run the good governance, non-profit journalism outlet TrustLaw - has hired Stella Dawson to fill their new position of Special Corruption Correspondent. From the foundations' press release:

Sneaking Your Money Across Borders: Capital Flight On The Rise International Business Times, June 4, 2012 TGEG, The City Of San Fernando, and the Bishop PRWeb (Press Release), June 7, 2012 Oil Giants Launch Bribe Probes The Wall Street Journal, June 6, 2012 North Africa: U.S. State’s Fernandez On Transitioning Economies of the Arab Spring

In December of 2011, nearly a year after South Sudan voted overwhelmingly in favor of independence from its northern neighbor, I asked a very important question. Will South Sudan defy the resource curse? The “resource curse” is the tragic phenomenon that countries well-endowed with natural resources tend to have slower economic growth and poorer development than those without. According to an analysis of developing countries by Jeffrey Sachs and Andrew Warner, the more an economy relies on mineral wealth, the lower its growth rate. Countries with significant natural resource endowments also tend to have an increased likelihood of experiencing war...