September 30th, 2009
Illicit financial flows exit developing countries through two broad channels—as unrecorded capital flows from a country’s external accounts (captured by the World Bank Residual model) and
trade mispricing (captured by the Direction of Trade statistics or DOTS model). GFI’s study
Illicit Financial Flows from Developing Countries: 2002-2006 points out that some researchers have questioned the use of the trade mispricing model to capture illicit flows. They argue that data issues underlying the recording of partner country exports and imports introduce enough “noise” so that the trade mispricing model is unable to capture illicit flows. I was therefore...
September 25th, 2009
Global Financial Integrity just put out a statement lauding the G20's commitment to end banking secrecy, increase transparency in global finance and curtail illicit financial flows from developing economies. Check out the full text of the speech below:
Washington, DC -- The G-20 reaffirmed its commitment to pressing uncooperative secrecy jurisdictions to adopt more rigorous reporting standards, tackle banking secrecy, and increase overall transparency in global finance in a communiqué released at the conclusion of today's summit in Pittsburgh.
"Transparency and accountability in global finance are the cornerstones of a strong and robust world economy,"...
September 25th, 2009
So far, these are the really significant pieces that I've pulled from the
statement while skimming through it.
In the
Preamble section:
22. To take new steps to increase access to food, fuel and finance among the world’s poorest while clamping down on illicit outflows. Steps to reduce the development gap can be a potent driver of global growth.
In the "
A Framework for Strong, Sustainable, and Balanced Growth" section:
14. We call on our international accounting bodies to redouble their efforts to achieve a single set of high quality, global accounting standards within...
September 24th, 2009
I’ve never worn a pair of crampons. I’ve never wielded an ice axe. And I’ve definitely never been snow camping. However, my favorite climber, who scales mountains weekly, has given me a rather intimate knowledge of the—completely outrageous—sport of mountaineering. And if for that reason alone, I can say I am preeminently qualified to declare that mountaineering is exactly like international politics. Well, minus the whole “risking your life” part.
Mountaintops provide a convenient symbol for anything from achievement to power. So it doesn’t come as a surprise that the meeting of the world’s...
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