Nearly $3.15 billion is illicitly transferred out of Bangladesh each year through offshore accounts, the World Bank disclosed in its recent Bangladesh Development Update.
This illicit financial flow represents 0.7% of the nation's Gross Domestic Product (GDP), the World Bank says quoting the State of the Tax Justice Report 2020.
The report further states, "The tax revenue losses, which include losses from corporate abuse and offshore tax evasion, are estimated at over $700 million."
These losses represent around 2.2% of Bangladesh's total revenue for the fiscal year 2019-20.
The World Bank, expressing concern in its Development Update report, notes that illicit capital flows into offshore accounts from Bangladesh have been on a rising trajectory.
The World Bank also referred to the Global Financial Integrity Report 2021 to say, "As much as $3.6 billion on average per year has been laundered from Bangladesh through trade mis-invoicing between 2009 and 2018."
This method of financial manipulation has positioned Bangladesh as 44th globally and third in South Asia for illicit outflows.
Moreover, Bangladesh is ranked 54th among 133 countries in the Financial Secrecy Index — an index that measures the extent to which a country’s financial and tax systems may help individuals evade taxes and obscure their finances from legal scrutiny.
