Illicit Financial Flows out of Latin America

Mexico and Venezuela Lead Region with Most Illicit Outflows

The Center for International Policy‘s (CIP) Global Financial Integrity program (GFI) released a new report this week that estimates the quantity and patterns of illicit financial flows coming out of developing countries. The report, “Illicit Financial Flows from Developing Countries, 2000-2009,” (PDF) finds that approximately $6.5 trillion was removed from the developing world from 2000 through 2008, averaging $725 billion to $810 billion per year.

Most notable for Latin America, the new GFI report, authored by Dev Kar and Karly Curcio, places both Mexico and Venezuela in the top ten countries with the highest measured cumulative illicit financial outflows between 2000 and 2008. According to the new report, from 2000 to 2008 $416 billion in illicit money flowed out of Mexico, placing Mexico third on the list, just behind China ($2.18 trillion) and Russia ($427 billion). Venezuela falls eighth on the list, with $157 billion in illicit financial outflows between 2000 and 2008.

CIP’s Global Financial Integrity program explains that the term “illicit financial flows” pertains to

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