Bangladesh was ranked 26th among 149 countries in the world in transferring of black money, says a study released yesterday by Global Financial Integrity (GFI), a Washington-based research and advisory organisation.
The report shows that China secured the top position in the outflow of black money with $139.22 billion, followed by Russian Federation with $104.97 billion. Mexico became third with $52.84 and India 4th with $51.02.
Among the South Asian countries India tops the list followed Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Pakistan and Bhutan.
The report said illicit financial flows or black money from developing and emerging economies surged to US$1.1 trillion or a staggering 4 per cent of the developing world's GDP in 2013.
The cumulative illicit outflows between 2004 and 2013 from developing economies is estimated to be US$7.8 trillion, the last year for which data are available, states the report.
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. Sub-Saharan Africa suffered the largest illicit financial outflows averaging 6.1 per cent of GDPfollowed by Developing Europe (5.9 per cent), Asia (3.8 per cent), the Western Hemisphere (3.6 per cent), and the Middle East, North Africa, Afghanistan, and Pakistan (MENAAP, 2.3 per cent), states the study.
The IFF growth rate from 2004-2013 was 8.6 per cent in Asia and 7 per cent in Developing Europe as well as in the MENA and Asia-Pacific regions, states the study which is based on scrutiny of discrepancies in balance of payments data and direction of trade statistics (DOTS), as reported to the IMF, in order to detect flows of capital that are illegally earned, transferred, and/or utilized.
"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 chief Raymond Baker.