In 2020, UNODC, ESCAP, UNCTAD, UNODC ROSEAP, inaugurated a new Development Account project called “Statistics and data for measuring illicit financial flows in the Asia-Pacific region”.
The project aimed at consolidating existing and testing new methodological guidelines for the measurement of Indicator 16.4.1 “Total value of inward and outward illicit financial flows (IFFs)”, as well as to build and strengthen statistical capacity by providing technical assistance and guidance to pilot countries for the measurement of such indicator.
An UNCTAD/UNODC Conceptual Framework for the Statistical Measurement of Illicit Financial Flows was published in October 2020, and in June 2021, UNCTAD published Methodological Guidelines to Measure Tax and Commercial IFFs for pilot testing, while UNODC is measuring crime related IFFs.
Pilot testing has been ongoing in 2021-2022 of the UNCTAD Guidelines in two countries, namely, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan, and crime related IFFs were tested in Viet Nam, Bangladesh, Maldives, Nepal by UNODC.
A hybrid final workshop of the project is being organized to discuss the implementation of activities IFFs in the six Asian countries. The meeting objectives are:
- Report on improved statistical capacity to measure illicit financial flows;
- Report the estimates of the illicit financial flows;
- Share experiences and best practices among the pilot countries within the region;
- Facilitate continuation of measurement by national statistical offices and national agencies;
- Disseminate testing guidelines (both crime-related and tax and commercial) which were updated as a result of this pilot testing round;
- Discuss future work, interregional cooperation, and policy implications for measuring illicit financial flows
