Editorial
Flight of capital
Another cause for concern
THE rate of financial outflow from Bangladesh to other countries has risen by no less than 28 percent. A news report published in daily Prothom Alo reveals this referring to a research report, recently published by the Washington based research institute GFI (Global Financial Integrity). However, flight of capital is not a new phenomenon as much as this is prevalent in other countries. But it's the steep rise in the rate of illicit flow from Bangladesh that concerns us. According to GFI's recent findings some Tk.1 Lakh 28 thousand and Tk.616 crore was whisked away between 2002 and 2011 from Bangladesh. As a consequence, in the list of 150 developing nations Bangladesh stands 47th in terms of flight of capital including money laundering. Moreover, the position is even dreadful among the south Asian countries -- Bangladesh stands second.
The massive sums of fleeing capital must strictly be regulated and stopped. According to banking experts it is the politically tense situations, and the last year of an elected government when bulk of the capital outflow takes place. Reportedly, politicians and the politically blessed business men are mainly responsible for shifting huge sums of their capital out of the country.
The flight of capital induced by weaknesses of our financial monitoring and regulatory agencies reflect adversely on the state of financial governance. This together with political violence and business insecurity contributes to the phenomenon.
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