Under the guise of international trade, about 6 thousand 830 billion dollars have been smuggled abroad from Bangladesh in 10 years from 2013 to 2022. In a report published last Thursday, Washington-based research organization Global Financial Integrity (GFI) said this information.
According to the report, this huge amount of money is diverted through trade mis-invoicing (trade mis-invoicing) in international trade. This manipulation is mainly done by overinvoicing imports and underinvoicing exports for the purpose of evading taxes, shifting profits or laundering capital abroad.
The analysis showed that a large part of this illegal money flow of Bangladesh occurred during trade with developed countries. Of the total deficit, about $3,300 million or $33 billion was manipulated in transactions with the United States and European countries.
As the report observes, this risk to Bangladesh is not limited to regional trade, but is closely linked to the global supply chain. Especially in export-oriented sectors and import-dependent industries, this type of money laundering trend has been seen more.
While this loss in Bangladesh is significant compared to other South Asian countries, it is much less compared to India. At the same time, a record 1 lakh 6 thousand crore (1.06 trillion) dollars was smuggled out of India under the guise of trade. On the other hand, Sri Lanka has seen a deficit of around $24 billion in trade with developed countries. However, given Sri Lanka’s fragile economy, the impact of this trafficking is much more dire in the country.
Showing the picture of the entire Asian region, the report said that only in 2022, about 169 thousand billion dollars were smuggled from the developing countries of Asia under the guise of trade. Big economies like China, Thailand and India top the list, but the problem is evident in all countries, big and small.
The study also pointed out that such unethical practices are deeply rooted in Asian economies. The report warns that the trend has shown no clear signs of abatement over the past decade.
GFI also stated that Bangladesh is among the top 10 developing countries in Asia in terms of this huge gap in trade value.
