Financial Transparency Coalition

WASHINGTON, DC – Egypt is losing more than US$6 billion per year—US$57.2 billion in total from 2000 to 2008— to illicit financial activities and official government corruption, writes Global Financial Integrity (GFI) economist, Karly Curcio, in a new weblog published today at www.financial taskforce.org. The piece "Egypt too? There Goes the Neighborhood" uses numbers from GFI’s recently released report, "Illicit Financial Flows from Developing Countries: 2000-2009." The report, authored by GFI Lead Economist Dev Kar and Ms. Curcio, lists illicit capital flight numbers for all developing countries from 2000-2008, including Egypt.

Egypt Losses $6 Billion Per Year in Illicit Outflows; Illicit Outflows from MENA Growing Faster than Any Other Region Reverberations from the violent protests in Tunisia are knocking on Egypt’s door. On Wednesday, the Egyptian authorities threatened “immediate” arrest for any public gatherings or protests in response to a massive march in opposition to the current leadership, President Hosni Mubarak. “No provocative movements or protest gatherings or organizing marches or demonstrations will be allowed,” the Interior Ministry said in a statement. According to the New York Times, on Wednesday some protesters persevered as they chanted slogans at hundreds of...