Tag: Asia

Illicit capital flight a big threat to fiscal discipline

Newage, 17 July 2021

ILLICIT capital flight remains a consistent problem for the economy despite the government’s avowed position against this. The problem has increased, as economists say, because of an apathy on part of the authorities to curb money laundering and a criminal collusion of people in the agencies responsible for ending such capital flight. Although the government has introduced a scope for the private sector to invest abroad, businesses and individuals have continued to exploit the weak regulatory oversight to launder money. Since 2015, when the government allowed the private sector to invest abroad on certain conditions, only $327.14 million, or Tk 2,774.14 crore, has been invested, as the first report of the Bangladesh Bank on outward foreign direct investments says, in foreign countries through the formal channel. But the total amount of money laundered and invested in foreign countries by Bangladeshi businesses and citizens is many times higher than the amount invested through the formal channel. A US state department report published in November 2020 says that Bangladeshis’ investments across the world exceeded $3 billion by 2018, which is about 75 times higher than the legally invested amount. Continue reading “Article: Illicit capital flight a big threat to fiscal discipline”