Financial Transparency Coalition

One of the main problems underlying the current crisis in the Eurozone is that the conditions set out in the Maastricht Treaty which lay the economic foundation of the zone are not congruent with the criteria needed to form an optimum currency area. The criteria under the Maastricht Treaty namely are (i) a rate of inflation no more than 1.5 percentage points higher than the average of three EU members with the lowest inflation rates (ii) a ratio of the annual government deficit to GDP not to exceed 3% at the end of the preceding fiscal year or...

Cross-posted, with small amendments, from the Treasure Islands blog. A new report from the IMF (hat tip: Markus Henn) tallies surprisingly closely, at least in part, with what members of the Task Force have been saying for some time. Take this, for example, on the role of secrecy jurisdictions (the IMF prefers the term Offshore Financial Centers, or OFCs:)

Before the 2008–09 economic crisis, many banks and hedge funds used OFCs for off-balance-sheet activities such as the so-called special purpose vehicles or structured investment vehicles. These vehicles were typically funded in onshore financial...

Not my title: one Carlo Cottarelli, Director of the IMF’s Fiscal Affairs Department, used for a blog on the Huffington Post. He was talking about what the IMF is doing to help developing countries on this issue. He lists a strong commitment by many countries  to strengthen their revenue systems, through both administrative reforms and improved tax policies. And he refers to good governance and avoiding exemptions and preferences plus the need for political will to drive through tough policy changes to build and support firm, even-handed enforcement.  These, he says, are the issues of concern for developing countries. But he makes no mention at all of:

• transfer pricing abuse
• tax havens
• Continue Reading

Christian Aid's David McNair Recounts His Trip to Washington, DC for the International Monetary Fund's Spring Meetings Last Week Extreme turbulence and black clouds were the order of the day as I flew through a storm into Washington, DC. Ironic, then, that I was on my way to the institution tasked with picking up the pieces of the financial crisis and managing these turbulent economic times. But the International Monetary Fund (IMF) itself has not escaped from the crisis unchanged. The new ‘fund’ seems less driven by economic orthodoxy at the expense of other perspectives and more open to criticism –...