NEW YORK: Curbing corruption could generate about $1 trillion in tax revenues annually across the world, according to research from the International Monetary Fund (IMF). In addition to increasing government revenue, fighting corruption can also reduce waste and even help to lift test scores among public school students, the IMF said. It also improves overall public trust in the government.
“Less corruption means lower revenue leakage and less waste in expenditures, and higher quality of public education and infrastructure,” said the report.
The pattern of lower corruption perception and higher revenues is maintained across developed, emerging and low-income countries, the data showed.
“Among advanced economies, a country in the top 25 per cent in terms of control of corruption collects 4.5 per cent of GDP more in revenues, on average, than a country in the lowest 25 per cent. The gap in revenue collection is 2.75 per cent of GDP among emerging market economies and 4 per cent of GDP among low-income countries,” said the report.
Previous studies showed that extractive industries like mining and oil drilling are hotbeds for corruption, as are procurement and the administration of state-owned enterprises. The Fund focuses on transparency and oversight as key elements in curbing corruption in these areas, with a strong, free press as catalyst.
“We expected transparency would go together with good fiscal outcomes, but what surprised us is that the effect of transparency is much stronger in countries that have a free press or a (strong) civil society,” said Paolo Mauro, deputy director in the IMF’s Fiscal Affairs department.
“And when you have those two together the effect is even stronger.” Mauro and Paulo Medas, a deputy division chief in the same IMF department, co-authored the study, a chapter of the Fund’s Fiscal Monitor, which is being published in parts this week ahead of the IMF’s spring meetings scheduled next week in Washington.
Among other recommendations to curb corruption, the Fund calls for the professionalisation of civil service, including merit-based hiring, as well as the need for simple tax rules and business codes to avoid the temptation of bribes to navigate them.
The report recommended technology that can fight corruption. For instance, it said, taking procurement on line is seen as a rapid and inexpensive part of the anti-corruption puzzle. — Reuters
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