Introduction
Hypothesis: Paradigm shift
The hypothesis that has been under consideration in my July columns thus far, is that international best practices in the area of financing for development are undergoing a paradigm shift, which is partly reflected in mounting global efforts to incorporate “recovery of stolen public assets” (StPAR) as a central feature of domestic resource mobilization, particularly for developing countries. To date such efforts have been mainly fuelled by the growing empirical data across all regions that reveal an explosive growth of corruption.
At the very least this has been serving as a significant drag on global growth and development. Indeed I have provided in support, estimates of this phenomenon for Guyana in the areas of procurement fraud, illicit financial flows and the tax-avoiding underground economy. I have provided