Tag Archives: World Bank

Tax avoidance is a corruption that impoverishes

  By

Arsenal Bolt: Quick updates on the news stories we’re following.

arsenal-bolt-logo

Jim Yong Kim, President of the World Bank, gave a speech in which he argued that corporate tax avoidance schemes are a type of corruption:

“Some companies use elaborate strategies to not pay taxes in countries in which they work, a form of corruption that hurts the poor,” Kim said in a speech ahead of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund annual meetings next week in Lima, Peru. According to a recent United Nations report, tax evasion is costing an estimated $100 billion in lost public revenues in poor countries.

 
I’m pretty concerned about the lost revenues in rich countries too, which could also be used to help the poor.

Free trade has hurt Africa — but could also help it

  By

The IMF forced a lot of countries to end protectionist barriers with first-world nations, which flooded out most of their domestic manufacturing. But the barriers are still in place within the continent. Thus it’s easier for African nations to trade outside Africa than within. But unlike first-world nations that basically have no demand for African supplies except minerals, other African markets would probably make for great sale points. Could reducing continental trade barriers match African goods to big markets that OECD nations can’t offer?