CAIRO - Egypt's economy lost roughly $57.2 billion from 2000 until 2008, an economist told a forum in Cairo. "Egypt now ranks third in Africa in terms of exporting illegal money," Nabil Hashad, a financial and economic expert, told the forum, citing a report by Global Financial Integrity (GFI). "Illicit outflow of Egyptian money through bad pricing policies, i.e. slashing the value of exports and inceasing import prices, cost Egypt $2.5 billion annually. The outflow, shown in the balance of payments, includes $3.8 billion from tax evasion," Hashad said. "It will take political will to restore these stolen funds. Cooperation with other legal and financial bodies will be required to get the money back," he stated. According to GFI, crime and corruption cost Egypt around $6 billion annually. Much of this money, the Washington-based organisation said, was driven out by personal tax evasion in addition to corruption and crime. The recent report stated that the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, including Egypt, had the highest growth rate of illicit financial outflows (IFFs). Hashad expects Egypt's ranking to fall from 70 to 170, behind Iraq, on the international corruption index, as numerous scandals were revealed after the January 25 revolution. "The revolution uncovered deep-rooted corruption in most of the country's institutions, where corrupt officials made fortunes from bribes, illegal commisions and tax evasion," he explained.Hashad called for speeding up investigations to recouperate these funds stolen by ex-officials in high places. "Weak governance allowed rampant bribery, theft, crime and tax evasion to drive billions of dollars out of the country every year," the GFI said in the report that was released last month. "The annual loss, which seriously hampered the government's ability to stimulate economic development and alleviate poverty, made President Mubarak's dictatorial regime unbearable and brought Egypt to its current state of social and political unrest," the report said. Egypt ranks third among all African countries for largest exporters of illicit capital with cumulative outflows from 2000-2008 at $57.2 billion and $6.4 billion per annum. Dividing the population into five groups, or quintiles, one can see that in 2005 the lowest fifth held 8.96 per cent of the country's income and the highest quintile a whopping 41.46 per cent share of Egypt's income, according to GFI. The cumulative loss of illicit capital from North Africa over this 39-year period amounted to around $1,767 per person.
