Ghana ranks 98th world largest exporter of illicit money

…as country loses $218m on average in black money in past decade

An average amount of $218 million was illegally taken out of Ghana during the past decade, from 2001-2010, says a global illicit financial report released December 17, 2012.

The report published by Washington-based Global Financial Integrity (GFI) placed Ghana as the 98th largest exporter of illicit money among 143 countries of the world. China was number one on the rankings with an amount of $2.74 trillion taken out from that country illegally.

According to the GFI, these monies were lost through crime, corruption, and tax evasion.

The report estimated that nearly $6 trillion has been stolen from poor countries within the ten-year period.

In 2010 alone, the report indicated that developing countries lost a total of $858.8 billion, just below the all-time high of $871.3 billion set in 2008—the year preceding the global financial crisis.

The report, “Illicit Financial Flows from Developing Countries: 2001-2010,” is GFI’s annual update on the amount of money flowing out of developing economies via crime, corruption and tax evasion, and it is the first of GFI’s reports to include data for the year 2010.

By Ekow Quandzie