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John Christensen ■ Oxfam: the International Finance Corporation and tax havens – new report

Oxfam: the International Finance Corporation and tax havens – new report

John Christensen

Published:

11 April 2016

Reading time:

2 min

Category:

Financialisation ↘ Inequality and human rights ↘ Tax havens ↘

Tags:

Monday 11th April

Oxfam has launched a new briefing on the IFC and tax havens.

This briefing will also be presented and discussed at our event at the World Bank CSO forum on Friday 15^th of April at 11 am-12.30 in Washington DC.

The key findings of the report include:

68 companies were lent money by the World Bank’s private lending arm (IFC) in 2015, to finance investments in sub-Saharan Africa. 51 of these 68 companies use tax havens with no apparent link to their core business;

Together, these companies received 84% of the IFC’s investments in sub-Saharan Africa last year;

In 2015, the IFC portfolio for SSA was 68 projects of a total value of US$3422 million of which US$2878 million were associated with tax havens through IFC clients – a significant increase in the use of tax havens since 2010 (see chart);

Oxfam calls on the World Bank Group to put in place safeguards to ensure that its clients can prove they are paying their fair share of tax.

Inequality is rising around the world. Fighting inequality must be an integrated priority for everyone in development, to promote and achieve sustainable development.

As the World Bank and IMF prepare for their Spring Meeting in Washington 13–15 April, and in the wake of the Panama Papers scandal which reveals how powerful individuals and companies are using tax havens to hide wealth and dodge taxes, Oxfam is calling on the World Bank Group to put safeguards in place to ensure that its clients can prove they are paying their fair share of tax.

Read Oxfam’s report here

The author

John Christensen

Trained as a forensic auditor and economist, John has worked in many countries around the world, including a period of working in offshore financial services with Touche Ross & Co. For 11 years he was economic adviser to the government of the British Channel Island of Jersey. In 2003 he became what the Guardian has described as “the unlikely figurehead of a worldwide campaign against tax avoidance.” His research on offshore finance has been widely published in books and academic journals, and John has taken part in many films, television documentaries and radio programmes. John can be contacted on +44 (0) 7979 868302.

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