China tops the list.
By Sreejith Vallikunnu
India ranks fourth in the list of world’s top 20 countries by the volume of illicit black money outflows per year, according to a study by the US-based think tank Global Financial Integrity (GFI).
The study reveals that India records a massive $51 billion siphoned out of the country each year between 2004 and 2013. China tops the list with $139 billion average outflows of illicit finances per annum, followed by Russia ($104 billion per annum) and Mexico ($52.8 billion per annum). Malaysia, Brazil, South Africa, Thailand, Indonesia and Nigeria lists five to ten ranks, respectively.
Titled “Illicit Financial Flows from Developing Countries: 2004-2013″ the study describes that illicit financial flows first surpassed US$1 trillion in 2011, and have grown to US$1.1 trillion in 2013—marking a dramatic increase from 2004 when it was just US$465.3 billion.
“This study clearly demonstrates that illicit financial flows are the most damaging economic problem faced by the world’s developing and emerging economies,†said GFI President Raymond Baker, a long-time authority on financial crime.
“This year at the U.N. the mantra of ‘trillions not billions’ was continuously used to indicate the amount of funds needed to reach the sustainable development goals. Significantly curtailing illicit flows is central to that effort,†he added.
Here are the four significant findings of the study:
- Illicit financial flows averaged a staggering 4.0 percent of the developing world’s GDP.
- Sub-Saharan Africa suffered the largest illicit financial outflows—averaging 6.1 percent of GDP—followed by Developing Europe (5.9 percent), Asia (3.8 percent), the Western Hemisphere (3.6 percent), and the Middle East, North Africa, Afghanistan, and Pakistan (MENA+AP, 2.3 percent).
- In seven of the ten years studied global IFFs outpaced the total value of all foreign aid and foreign direct investment flowing into poor nations.
- The IFF growth rate from 2004-2013 was 8.6 percent in Asia and 7 percent in Developing Europe as well as in the MENA and Asia-Pacific regions.