The document discusses how capturing illicit financial flows can help fund achieving the UN's Sustainable Development Goals. It notes that $1 trillion in illicit capital leaves developing countries annually, contributing to an estimated $2.5 trillion annual funding gap for the Goals. While political will exists to reduce these flows, misinvoiced trade accounts for $878 billion per year. The document introduces a Trade Misinvoicing Assessment System (TMAS) that analyzes pricing data to help customs officials identify misinvoiced goods shipments, which could help capture more revenue domestically and close the funding gap.

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Public Financial
Management, Illicit
Financial Flows
and Achieving the
Sustainable
Development
Goals
Prepared for
ICGFM 2015 Winter Training Conference
December 9, 2015

2. CHALLENGE / OPPORTUNITY
• The UN estimates that achieving the SDGs will
cost $2.5 trillion annually.
• Current levels of ODA, FDI and pledged financial
assistance from the MDBs totals $1.17 trillion
annually.
• At least $1 trillion in illicit capital is siphoned out
of developing economies each year.
• Helping countries capture revenue will be
transformative.
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3. POLITICAL WILL EXISTS
• In the Addis Ababa Action Agenda and the
Sustainable Development Goals nations agreed to
“substantially reduce illicit financial flows” by 2030.
• The Addis Ababa Action Agenda notes that
“measures to combat. . . and curb illicit financial
flows will be integral to our efforts.”
• The Addis Tax Initiative notes that “stepping up
Domestic Resource Mobilization is core to
ensuring solid financing of the Post-2015
Development Agenda.”
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4. CAPTURING DOMESTIC RESOURCES
• Data show that of the $1.1 trillion in measurable
illicit financial flows exiting developing economies
in 2013, $878 billion were related to misinvoiced
trade (i.e. trade fraud).
• Customs departments need technology to help
identify when goods are misinvoiced.
• This is a customs department problem not a
tax/revenue authority problem.
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5. Trade Misinvoicing Outflows, 2004-2013
(in billions of U.S. dollars)
$0
$100
$200
$300
$400
$500
$600
$700
$800
$900
$1,000
2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013
Trade Misinvoicing from All Developing Countries

6. TRADE MISINVOICING ASSESSMENT SYSTEM
(TMAS)
• Real-time pricing information for 25,000 products.
• Product pricing information from 30 nations.
• Prices updated quarterly.
• Ease of training – price inquiries take just seconds to
complete.
• Results provided instantaneously – won’t delay movement of
goods.
• Search results indicate when action should be taken – prior to
goods leaving the port.
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7. TMAS BENEFITS
• Provides actionable information for customs officials
• The technology will disrupt unhelpful behavior
• Creates legitimacy in the trade process
• Improves efficiency of customs departments
• Addresses the compliance gap in revenue capture
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8. CONTACT INFORMATION
Tom Cardamone
Managing Director
tcardamone@gfintegrity.org
+1 202 293 0740
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