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Thursday, 3 February 2011

The cost of illicit financial outflows

Many of us now know that Malaysia has lost RM889 billion in terms of illicit financial outflows from 2000 to 2008. But how much was the per capita average annual illicit outflow when compared to per capita GDP?
Independent observer Philip Khoo does the maths in a commentary for Aliran:
Most shocking of all, the illicit outflow from Malaysia cost the rakyat 17 per cent of per capita GDP, but less than 1 per cent in Egypt and Tunisia. In other words, that outflow could have potentially added up to 17 per cent of GDP, or made available up to US$1,200 for the betterment of every man, woman and child in the country, including non-citizens.
At an average household size of 4.1 persons, it would have amounted to almost US$5,000 per year per household, or around RM15,000!

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