Capital flight cost Bangladesh around $6bn in 2015: GFI

Bangladesh lost as much as $5.9 billion in illegal fund outflows in 2015, the latest year for which comprehensive data are available, according to a report released by the Global Financial Integrity or GFI.

The figure stood at $8.97 billion in the previous year.

The Washington-based research and advisory organisation on Monday released the report based on a study on illicit flows of money into and out of 148 developing and emerging market nations.

Titled “Illicit Financial Flows to and from Developing Countries: 2006-2015,” the report by the GFI places equal emphasis on illicit outflows and inflows.

The figures are accumulated using the databases of the United Nations (UN) Comtrade and the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

According to the Comtrade dataset from the United Nations, Bangladesh raked in $2.8 billion in illicit money inflows in 2015.

The country ranks in the top 30 of developing nations in both the illegal financial outflow and inflow categories of the report.

Combined, these outflows and inflows have accounted for over 20 percent of developing country trade, on average in the last 10 years, the report says.

The study identifies misinvoicing in merchandise trade as the primary means for illicitly moving funds between developing and advanced countries.

Trade misinvoicing accounts for between 19 and 24 percent of developing country trade, says the report.