The International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank (WB) wrapped up their spring meeting yesterday, as expected. What was unexpected was the central theme that dominated discussions: far from being the “”mediocre world growth”, as per the official agenda, it was the scandal that has become known as the Panama Papers that took centre stage in the discussion among the 188 participating counties.
Christine Lagarde, IMF Director, highlighted the scandal as a “”wake-up call” on the issue of tax evasion and the importance of greater international coordination. Those views were echoed in a parallel declaration by the G20, a group of rich and emerging counties. In its communiqué, the G20 raised the tone against those counties that “”fail to comply with internationally agreed standards on financial transparency”, threatening the use of sanctions; the international body also agreed to push for a system of automatic exchange of tax information, with the final goal of shining the light on the identity of the ultimate beneficiaries of opaque offshore companies. This latter point is still being resisted by the Panamanian government of Juan Carlos Varela, who so far has refused to participate in a transparent and open exchange of information. Ms Lagarde went on to announce that tomorrow, Tuesday 19th April, the IMF will launch a new platform aimed at helping poor countries strengthen their fiscal systems. The action will be coordinated with the help of the United Nations, the OECD as well as the World Bank.
