AGL 40.00 Decreased By ▼ -0.01 (-0.02%)
AIRLINK 127.04 Decreased By ▼ -0.95 (-0.74%)
BOP 6.67 Increased By ▲ 0.07 (1.06%)
CNERGY 4.51 Decreased By ▼ -0.09 (-1.96%)
DCL 8.55 Increased By ▲ 0.07 (0.83%)
DFML 41.44 Decreased By ▼ -0.04 (-0.1%)
DGKC 86.85 Increased By ▲ 0.27 (0.31%)
FCCL 32.28 Increased By ▲ 0.14 (0.44%)
FFBL 64.80 Decreased By ▼ -0.62 (-0.95%)
FFL 10.25 No Change ▼ 0.00 (0%)
HUBC 109.57 Decreased By ▼ -0.92 (-0.83%)
HUMNL 14.68 Decreased By ▼ -0.07 (-0.47%)
KEL 5.05 Decreased By ▼ -0.08 (-1.56%)
KOSM 7.46 Increased By ▲ 0.34 (4.78%)
MLCF 41.38 Decreased By ▼ -0.27 (-0.65%)
NBP 60.41 Increased By ▲ 0.32 (0.53%)
OGDC 190.10 Decreased By ▼ -4.59 (-2.36%)
PAEL 27.83 Decreased By ▼ -0.12 (-0.43%)
PIBTL 7.83 Decreased By ▼ -0.17 (-2.13%)
PPL 150.06 Decreased By ▼ -1.11 (-0.73%)
PRL 26.88 No Change ▼ 0.00 (0%)
PTC 16.07 Increased By ▲ 0.07 (0.44%)
SEARL 86.00 Increased By ▲ 7.80 (9.97%)
TELE 7.71 Increased By ▲ 0.32 (4.33%)
TOMCL 35.41 Decreased By ▼ -0.26 (-0.73%)
TPLP 8.12 Increased By ▲ 0.21 (2.65%)
TREET 16.41 Increased By ▲ 0.52 (3.27%)
TRG 53.29 Increased By ▲ 0.53 (1%)
UNITY 26.16 Decreased By ▼ -0.39 (-1.47%)
WTL 1.26 Decreased By ▼ -0.01 (-0.79%)
BR100 9,884 Decreased By -36.4 (-0.37%)
BR30 30,600 Decreased By -151.5 (-0.49%)
KSE100 93,355 Increased By 130.9 (0.14%)
KSE30 28,931 Increased By 46 (0.16%)

George-Papandreou----------CAPE TOWN: Former Greece prime minister George Papandreou said Thursday that his country might have avoided a bailout if the economy had not been robbed by funds being funnelled to tax havens.

Papandreou told the opening of the Socialist International congress, which is held every four years and of which he is president, that $21 trillion was hidden in tax havens around the world.

"Whether it is in developed or developing nations, it is our citizens that are being robbed," he said, saying this "plain robbery" denied governments the capacity to invest in areas like welfare and education.

"I know this, Greece is suffering from this. Had this alone been tackled, Greece would have most likely never have needed a bailout.

"Yet Europe, the G8, G20, the banking system despite my pleas as prime minister, despite token reference in our council of G20 decisions, have done nothing to change this."

Greece's finance ministry in February said Greeks had legally moved 16 billion euros abroad in the last two years, while efforts to clamp down on tax evasion have met limited success.

A tax transparency report last month said the world's wealthiest individuals had stashed $21 trillion worth of assets in offshore tax havens which was equivalent to the combined GDPs of the United States and Japan.

In 2010, Greece under Papandreou became the first eurozone country to get a bailout in exchange for tough austerity measures. He resigned late last year amid mounting discontent over the measures to help stave off bankruptcy.

Speaking in Cape Town, he said as prime minister his "struggle was not one to impose austerity as an end or as a goal, but a difficult necessity in a hostile environment to give time and hope so that Greece make the deep and necessary changes."

Papandreou said the global economy remained in crisis but political will was lacking in Europe and the world to bring in changes.

"I saw and we all see the inertia that continues to cripple the global economy," he said.

The conference, which is the 24th congress of the organisation, runs until Saturday.

Copyright AFP (Agence France-Presse), 2012

Comments

Comments are closed.