Sunday, June 30, 2019

Nepal in 109th position to park money in Swiss Banks

Nepal is at the 109th position with on the list of foreign nations whose nationals have parked money in the Swiss banking system, a report released by the Swiss National Bank states.
Last year Nepal was in 112th position, and with the political stability and historically strong two-third majority government instead of improving governance, black money outflow has increased to pull the Nepal’s ranking down by 3 places. 
As for Nepal’s neighbours, India is positioned at the 74th rank in terms of money parked by Indian individuals and enterprises, whereas Pakistan is on the 82nd, Sri Lanka 141st, Bangladesh 89th, Myanmar 187th and Bhutan 193rd.
Meanwhile, the United Kingdom, followed by the United States, has accounted for more than 26 per cent of the total foreign funds. Likewise, other countries in the top five are France, West Indies, and Hong Kong.
According to the Swiss National Bank — the central bank of Switzerland — the amount parked in Swiss banks from across the globe and funds parked in Swiss banks by Nepalis increased by nearly four-fold between 2008 and 2017. In 2008, Nepalis had parked 86.22 million Swiss francs in Swiss banks, while till the end of 2017 such funds rose to 322.88 million Swiss francs. And it has increased again to…
Nepalis are not allowed to transfer funds to foreign bank accounts. But it has seen not stopping. In 2008, Nepalis had parked 86.22 million Swiss francs in the Swiss bank and at the end of 2017 the amount rose to 322.88 million Swiss francs.
Swiss banks maintain strict privacy of account holders, making it difficult to identify individuals parking funds in Swiss banks, but it is assumed that Nepali business people and politicians have been holding such accounts in Swiss banks.
Obviously, the money parked by Nepalis in the Swiss Bank was siphoned off illegally through hundi, over-invoicing in imports and other ways.
Among the top-ranked jurisdictions, the UK is followed by the US, West Indies, France and Hong Kong in the top five, according to the report that states that these countries alone account for more than 50 per cent of the aggregate foreign funds parked with the Swiss banks, while the top-10 account for nearly two-thirds. “The top-15 countries account for nearly 75 per cent of all foreign money in Swiss banks, while the contribution of the top-30 is almost 90 per cent.”
The top-10 countries also include Bahamas, Germany, Luxembourg, Cayman Islands and Singapore.
Among the five-nation BRICS block of emerging economies, India is ranked the lowest while Russia is ranked the highest at 20th place, followed by China at 22nd, South Africa at 60th and Brazil at 65th place in terms of amount of money parked by their residents and enterprises at the end of 2018.
The countries ranked higher than India also include Mauritius (71st), New Zealand (59th), the Philippines (54th), Venezuela (53rd), Seychelles (52nd), Thailand (39th), Canada (36th), Turkey (30th), Israel (28th), Saudi Arabia (21st), Panama (18th), Japan (16th), Italy (15th), Australia (13th), UAE (12th) and Guernsey (11th).
The total money held in Swiss banks by foreign clients from across the world fell by about 4 per cent to 1.4 trillion Swiss Francs in 2018.

Black Money Outflow 
Year -- Funds parked by Nepalis
2008 -- 86.22 million Swiss francs
2009 -- 68.89 million Swiss francs
2010 -- 97.15 million Swiss francs
2011 -- 74.66 million Swiss francs
2012 -- 125.96 million Swiss francs
2013 -- 84.86 million Swiss francs
2014 -- 102.22 million Swiss francs
2015 -- 314.43 million Swiss francs
2016 -- 310.66 million Swiss francs
2017 -- 322.88 million Swiss francs

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