In the view of businessmen in Guatemala, the country has become a connection center for merchandise that is transported illegally from the Colon Free Zone, in Panama, to the Corozal Free Zone, in Belize.
Within the to and fro of contraband products moving from the south of Central America on the route to Mexico, a significant amount stays in Guatemala, where criminal structures are responsible for "marketing" these products throughout the territory.
Costa Rica 's estimated illicit financial flow averages 45% of its total foreign trade, and the incoming amount is 2.5%; For El Salvador these figures are 9% and 7.5%, for Guatemala 9% and 1.5%, for Honduras 31% and 28%, for Nicaragua 13% and 9%, and for Panama 16% and 307%.
A report by Global Financial Integrity (GFI) entitled "Illicit Financial Flows to and from Developing Countries: 2005-2014" concludes that the illicit flow of money to and from developing countries remains at high levels.The purpose of the report is to quantify those illicit financial flows that represent a serious disadvantage to economic development.
The Global Financial Integrity report places Costa Rica and Panama in positions 14 and 18 in the list of countries that moved the largest flows of illegal money in the world between 2003 and 2012.
EDITORIAL
The report entitled "Illicit Financial Flows from Developing Countries: 2003-2012" by Global Financial Integrity, said that between those years, the flow of illicit money in Costa Rica exceeded $94 billion, about $30 billion more than the amount accumulated between 2001 and 2011, according to reports from the same institution in mid-2013.
While in Colombia the activities of the company have already been outlawed, in Panama regulatory gaps have prevented a clear definition about the company from being made.
An article in Prensa.com reports that "... the Superintendency of Banks (SBP) and the Securities Market of Panama (SMV), jointly issued a statement in which they asked the Public Ministry (MP) to investigate Emgoldex Panama in order to determine whether activities totaling about six months in the country "are framed as criminal behavior in criminal law."
In Honduras the same ratio is 20%, in Panama 12%, 15% in Nicaragua, and in El Salvador and Guatemala 4%.
EDITORIAL:
At the global level similar percentages are seen in Brunei Darussalam with 21%, Paraguay with 19%, Malaysia 15%, Trinidad and Tobago 14%, Belarus 12%, and Iraq 10%.
The data comes from calculating the relationship between the respective Gross Domestic Product in 2011 (according to the World Bank) and the average illicit flows of money from every country in the years 2002-2011, according to the Illicit Financial Flows from Developing Countries report, 2002-2011.
In relation to GDP, Central American countries are those where more money is moved illegally in Latin America, with Panama and Costa Rica leading the way.
The report issued by Global Financial Integrity analyzes the flows of money generated by criminal activities and corruption between 2000 and 2009.
The table of absolute flow amounts of illegal money for the Central American countries, shows that Costa Rica moves $ 4,359 million (5 in Latin America), Panama $ 3,940 million, Honduras $ 2.828 million (7), Guatemala $ 1,354 million (13), El Salvador $ 1,027 million (14), and Nicaragua $ 774 million (16).