Combating Illicit Financial Flows from Poor Countries


The Danish Institute for International Studies has published a report arguing that developed countries can still meet the UN Millennium Development Goals by 2015 if they join hands and fight "illicit financial flows" from poor to rich countries. The authors claim that for every one dollar that poor countries receive as aid, more than eight dollars goes out to rich countries for various reasons such as tax evasion, corruption and drug trafficking. Based on data from the IMF and the World Bank, another report shows that illicit financial flows reached a total of $3,608 billion from 2002 to 2006. This number is enormous compared to the $120 billion that rich countries provided as development assistance in 2008.


By Jakob Vestergaard and Martin Højland
Danish Institute for International Studies
November 2009


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