Mexico is the Latin American country with the highest fraudulent billing within its international commercial relations, according to a study by the think tank Global Financial Integrity (GFI), since, according to the firm’s methodology, from 2009 to 2018 the country registered an average value gap per year close to 47.4 billion dollars between its declared exports with imports registered in 134 developing countries from this nation.
Recently, the firm published your report of illicit financial flows related to international trade in 134 developing countries between 2009 and 2018, a period that covers government administrations in Mexico from Felipe Calderón Hinojosa Y Enrique Peña Nieto; According to the study, this registered gap corresponds on an annual average to 15% of the country’s total international trade in that period.
In the report, the firm highlighted that Mexico was ranked seventh in the world with a greater average gap per year between the exports it declared, with the imports registered globally by each country (of the 134 developed nations analyzed ), with which it had a commercial relationship in said period only below Thailand, Malaysia, Poland, Russia, India Y China.
Even among the nations that do business with the 36 most advanced economies globally, Mexico also stood out within the three countries with the highest fraudulent billing in relations with said jurisdictions.
In this scenario, its average gap per year, between 2009 and 2018, was 35.4 billion dollars in its trade relationship with the 36 most advanced economies in the world, only behind China, which registered a gap of 250 billion dollars. average dollars per year, and Poland, whose difference was 48,000 million average dollars per year.
“China was the country with the largest value gap, by far, for each year over the 10-year period, while countries such as Mexico, Russia, Poland, Malaysia, India, Thailand, Brazil, Turkey, and Indonesia also ranked within the 10 nations with the largest average value gaps in US dollar terms ”, the report can read.
“Mexico is the Latin American country with the largest value gap between 2009 and 2018, as a result of the country’s trade with 36 advanced economies, behind China and Poland, respectively. And it is the seventh country in the ranking of gaps. of value in terms of the country’s general trade with all its trading partners, followed by Brazil, another Latin American country at the top of the list ”, the study adds.
The underlying problem
For Global Financial Integrity, the underlying problem of these gaps detected in their study corresponds to a fraudulent billing issue, which causes the loss of millions of dollars of tax revenue for countries around the world.
“Fraudulent billing facilitates illicit financial flows throughout the world economy,” the firm highlighted in its report, adding that this illegal activity occurs when importers and exporters deliberately falsify the declared value of the goods in the invoices they send to the authorities. customs.
According to the think tank, the fraudulent billing helps criminals transfer illicit money across international borders, evade taxes or avoid paying customs duties, launder proceeds of illicit activities, circumvent currency controls, and hide profits in offshore bank accounts.
“By overvaluing or undervaluing the declared value of imports or exports, traders illicitly move wealth across international borders by hiding within regular payments for trade in the international trading system,” the report can read.
The methodology of Global Financial Integrity It is based on analyzing imports and exports of each country, according to the data reported to the United Nations database. For example, according to the firm, if Ecuador reported having exported 400 million dollars in bananas to the United States in 2016, but in turn the latter reported having imported only 375 million dollars in bananas from the South American country, this would reflect a $ 25 million value gap in reported value.
For Global Financial Integrity, the fraudulent billing That occurs in trade relations represents a major global challenge for both customs and tax authorities around the world, especially in developing countries.
He even pointed out that, during the current health emergency, the problem has been accentuated especially by a context of capital flight and illicit money outflows through international trade.
“The very high degree of value differences identified in international trade data suggests that improper trade turnover remains a significant and persistent problem… From the perspective of trade-related illicit financial flows, the broader effects of trade The global Covid-19 crisis is widely seen as growing opportunities for crime, smuggling and illicit financial flows, ”GFI highlighted.
According to the general data presented in the study, only in 2018 it was detected that the joint fraudulent billing of the 134 developing countries analyzed reached 1.6 trillion dollars.
In this regard, the president and CEO of GFI, Tom Cardamone, indicated: “at a time when developing countries fight for every penny to finance vaccines and drugs to combat Covid-19 infections, thousands are left behind of millions of dollars in duties and taxes. It is absolutely shocking and that few governments are paying attention to these massive losses. “
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Reference-www.eleconomista.com.mx