Financial Transparency Coalition

WASHINGTON, DC – Following the conclusion of a two day conference titled “Increasing Transparency in Global Finance: A Development Imperative,” the Task Force on Financial Integrity and Economic Development issued the following statement to the members of the G-20:

Paul Collier of Oxford is speaking at the Task Force – he chairs its economists panel. One third of Africa’s wealth is outside Africa he says. If returned that would increase its capital by 50%. And as he notes the social return on capital on that in Africa would be vastly, vastly more in Africa than it could ever be outside because capital is so scarce in Africa. And as he also points out – the true cost of corruption is the defeat of honest politicians...

Staggering – capital flight out of South Africa could be 20% of GDP. That’s massive organised theft. And the big increase is transfer mispricing. That is corporate theft. Don’t tell me that corproations don’t help create poverty in these places. They do so deliberately. This data from economists at the University of Witswaterand, Johannesburg.

Some very exciting news out of the Task Force conference: Chaikou Yaya Diallo of the Guinea government, announces that he wants to convene a summit of African ministers to discuss the issue of illicit financial flows and the devastating ramifications they have on developing countries. This is how progress happens. Anyway, now we're eagerly looking forward to Senator Carl Levin's address at 7:15pm EDT.