Crime and corruption are draining a record $1 trillion a year from poor and middle-income nations with the disappearance of dirty money hitting some of the world's poorest regions hardest, a report showed on Monday.
A record $991 billion in unrecorded funds left 151 developing and emerging economies in 2012, up nearly 5% from a year earlier, according to US based watchdog Global Financial Integrity (GFI) that exposes financial corruption.
GFI's sixth annual report found between 2003 and 2012, the estimated amount of illicit funds shifted from developing countries totalled $6.6 trillion and rose at an inflation-adjusted 9.4% a year - roughly double global GDP growth.
China, Russia, Mexico, India, Malaysia saw the largest outflow of dirty money - the proceeds from shady business, crime and corruption - over the decade and also in 2012.
As India continues its pursuit of suspected black money stashed abroad, an international think-tank has ranked the country third globally with an estimated USD 94.76 billion (nearly Rs 6 lakh crore) illicit wealth outflows in 2012.
As a result, the cumulative illicit money moving out of the country over a ten-year period from 2003 to 2012 has risen to USD 439.59 billion (Rs 28 lakh crore), as per the latest estimates released by the Global Financial Integrity (GFI).
Sub-Saharan Africa suffered the biggest loss as a share of its economy, with the disappearance of dirty money averaging 5.5% of GDP. Nigeria and South Africa were among the top 12 nations with the largest volumes of illicit outflows.
GFI President Raymond Baker said the estimated losses were conservative but were still more than 10 times the total amount of foreign aid these countries received. He called the growth rate "alarming", having surged from about $297 billion in 2003.
"Illicit financial flows are the most damaging economic problem plaguing the world's developing and emerging economies," Baker said in a statement.
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