Bangladesh lost as much as $9bn to capital flight in 2014: GFI

Illicit fund outflows cost Bangladesh as much as $8.97 billion in 2014, the latest year for which comprehensive data are available, according to a report released by the Global Financial Integrity or GFI.

The latest figure is a 10.65 percent decline from the previous year.

The Washington-based research and advisory organisation on Monday released the report based on a research on 150 countries.

Bangladesh lost as much as $75.15 billion due to trade misinvoicing and other unrecorded outflows between 2005 and 2014, data shows.

The report provides low and high estimates of illegal money outflows from the developing world.

Bangladesh’s illicit money outflows fell more than 9 percent to $6.06 billion in 2014, if a low estimate is taken into account, according to the data.

Illicit financial flows from developing and emerging economies kept pace at nearly $1 trillion in 2014. The report pegs illicit financial outflows at 4.2-6.6 percent of developing country total trade in 2014.

Titled “Illicit Financial Flows to and from Developing Countries: 2005-2014,” the report is the first global study at GFI to equally emphasise illicit outflows and inflows. Each is found to have remained persistently high over the period between 2005 and 2014.

Combined, these outflows and inflows are estimated to account for between 14.1 percent and 24 percent of developing country trade, on average.