Illicit Financial Flows Honduras, C.A.

By Jose H. Figueroa

Between 2002 and 2011, governments in the developing world lost nearly six billion, mainly due to weak standards and poor governance, according to Global Financial Integrity (GFI), watchfulness organization based in Washington. Its wealth estimates, were obtained by inaccurate or adulterated trade invoices, shell companies and tax havens, among other accounting matters.

The Global Financial Integrity (GFI) promotes national and multilateral policies, and guarantees and agreements to halt the cross-border flow of illegal money, Data details emerge to calculate the ratio between the respective gross domestic product of each country, according to the World Bank (WB), and the average illicit flows of money from the years 2002-2011, established by the organization "illicit Financial flows from Developing Countries".

Developing countries may lose more than a billion dollars a year, proceeds of crime and corruption. This illegal flow goes fast increase and it is 10 times higher than the total amount of foreign aid that these countries receive.

"This provides evidence to show that illicit capital flows are the most devastating to the Global South economic problem," said the president of GFI, Raymond W. Baker, in the introduction to a report released recently. The numbers are a "wake-up call for the leaders to understand the urgency" to address this problem.

"Capital flows has increased," said Dev Kar, GFI chief economist and co-author of the new report, Kar warned GFI estimates may be conservative. For example do not consider informal money transfers (such as "hawala") or large cash transactions therefore do not give clues about the dimensions of huge businesses like person and drug traffic or smuggling.

Honduras, Illicit financial FlowsAmong 144 countries, Honduras appears at position 27 where "flows" financial crime, identified as money laundering, according to the report by Global Financial Integrity (GFI), amounting to 20 percent of gross domestic product (GDP), about 3,594 million dollars in 2012.

According to the evaluations and studies, from 2002 to 2011, money laundering in Honduras has had a growth, considering that in 2002 was estimated at 2,679 million and in 2011 totaled 3,560 million dollars with an aggregate of ten years of $ 31,552 million dollars.

Also, according to the increase in 2012 would rise about 34 billion, compared to GDP is 17.97 billion dollars, the figure to December was 3,594 billion dollars.

Illicit Financial Flows"This is the most damaging economic condition to hurt the poor. Illicit capital flows enable drug cartels, terrorist organizations and tax evaders to move cash around the world, undermines the objectives of the World Bank and other lending institutions, strips nations of critical resources development, and contributes to failed states," says the Global Financial Integrity, on its website.

http://www.gfintegrity.org/

Illicit Financial Flows: The Most Damaging Economic Condition Facing the Poor in Honduras

Corruption benefits few but hurts millions. The misuse of taxes which support taxpayers, more than eighty percent of the budget makes the poor Hondurans cannot have access to efficient health services; that education is of poor quality and did not receive school days needed; that they cannot make the investments in infrastructure to improve the country's competitiveness.

Honduras has been disqualified for the second time of the Millennium Challenge Account, through which you can obtain important resources from grants to fund projects that contribute to accelerating economic growth and poverty reduction. The main cause behind this disqualification is the lack of transparency and corruption.

Honduras for a long time it is has been helping by international organizations by ODA agreements, but these grants have not been well targeted by the different governments, in other words have not reached the needy poor.

Finance for development have not been well oriented to development purposes that the country needs, rather much of the aid has been focused on illegal financial flows

Reducing Illicit Financial Flow

Currently in Honduras has been working on reducing illegal financial flows, this is happening thanks to the government of the United States of America and international treaties between the two countries, mainly it has been fighting money laundering from drug traffic, authorities they have accused several of these people and recently a big local bank (Banco Continental) was closed product of these same activities.

A new customs law at Central America level has been adopted to prevent the smuggling of merchandise, as well as new controls have been implemented to treat taxes evasion, but also created new taxes and security tax rates to improve the domestic resource mobilization.

References

http://www.hondudiario.com/?q=node/5204http://www.gfintegrity.org/http://hondudiario.com/?q=node/5067http://www.estrategiaynegocios.net/centroamericaymundo/centroamerica/honduras/839360-330/centroam%C3%A9rica-sin-medidas-reales-para-combatir-el-contrabando

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