WASHINGTON (Reuters) - More than $ 30 billion in dirty money linked to crime, corruption and tax evasion leaves Brazil every year, twice as much as a decade ago, a study showed.

Irregular trade pricing is the main way that money leaves the country, accounting for 92,7 percent of the $ 401,6 billion that left Brazil between 1960 and 2012, according to Global Financial Integrity (GFI), a Washington-based research group that advocates financial transparency.

Annual losses are equivalent to 1,5 percent of Brazilian economic output, averaging $ 33,7 billion a year from 2010 to 2012, up from $ 14,7 billion in the first decade of the century 21.

But the losses are likely to be greater, said GFI, considering that its estimates do not include large amounts of money smuggling, a favorite method of moving money by drug dealers and other criminals, or in negotiations for services or financial transfers between branches of multinational corporations.

In Brazil, the informal economy has shrunk to 21,8 percent of official GDP, as the country's regular economy has grown, compared to a peak of 55 percent in the 1970s, according to the GFI. Despite this improvement, high revenue from dirty money flows is a concern.

Click here to check the full article

Source: Reuters