"The estimates presented in this report, estimated using two different databases, underscore the severity of the problem illicit financial outflows present to the developing world. Estimated potential illicit flows in and out of the developing world amounted to magnitudes within 20 to 30 percent of total developing country trade, on average, over the ten years between 2006 and 2015.
The numerical estimates are intended to illustrate the magnitude of the problem. The IMF and UN databases underlying the alternative estimates are the best data available for such comprehensive global assessment of trade-related IFFs. Significant and persistent IFFs in and out of developing countries imply sizeable social costs falling on the governments and citizens of those countries."
This is the latest in a series of reports, issued on a roughly annual basis by Global Financial Integrity (GFI), which provides country-level estimates of the illicit flows of money into and out of 148 developing and emerging market nations as a result of their trade in goods with advanced economies, as classified by the International Monetary Fund. Such flows—hereafter referred to as illicit financial flows (IFFs)—are estimated over the years from 2006 to 2015, the most recent ten year period for which comprehensive data are available.
