Int’l advocacy group: PH lost $410 billion in illicit transactions

An international advocacy group said the Philippines lost $410 billion in illicit transactions. The $133 billion in outflows and $277 billion in inflows mean so much trade goes on unreported. Global Financial Integrity managing director Tom Cardamone said the country has “continually ranked very high” in terms of illicit money flowing in and out of it over the last several years. Cardamone said the illicit transactions needed to be addressed in the immediate term, adding, “It’s unclear where the economy is going to go from here with that kind of tax loss.” He also said there appears to be a correlation between levels of corruption and levels of illicit flows. Since 1995, the Philippines has shown a “steady decline in the control of corruption.” Poorly-governed countries also tend to have a large underground economy. In the Philippines, this constitutes about 39% of the GDP.

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