Flows
in sentence
1766 examples of Flows in a sentence
Dirty Development MoneyCOPENHAGEN – One of the biggest problems affecting the world’s poor is one that few have ever heard about: illicit financial
flows.
Though such
flows
cost people in Djibouti, Congo, and Chad more than one-fifth of their incomes every year, they almost never make headlines.
But one recommendation – curbing illicit financial
flows
– was unexpected.
After all, at first blush, such
flows
do not seem to be as powerful or as urgent a threat to people’s wellbeing as, say, not having enough food to survive.
Many people do not realize that illicit
flows
are a problem at all.
Nonetheless, the economist Alex Cobham insists that that curbing such
flows
should be a high priority.
But there is also a legal mechanism for such financial flows: tax avoidance.
Taken together, illicit financial
flows
currently amount to nearly ten times the total sum of international aid.
By making it harder for individuals to hide behind shell companies, such regulation would make illicit financial
flows
significantly more difficult to accomplish – and much easier to spot.
If this effort produced just a 10% reduction in the average losses from illicit financial flows, compared to 2002-2012, it would save countries $768 billion – money that could be used to finance development projects.
But global leaders have compelling reason to add the reduction of illicit financial
flows
to the list.
If investing is foremost about discounting future cash flows, it’s important to focus precisely on what will and will not affect those calculations.
The world’s major powers would remain more or less aligned, and future cash
flows
on most investments would continue undisturbed.
And if there were an interruption in global oil flows, it would be cushioned by competing producers and new technologies.
By contrast, changes in broadly shared economic assumptions are far more likely to trigger a sell-off, by prompting investors to reassess the likelihood of actually realizing projected cash
flows.
In terms of themes, the conference would have to solve a new type of problem: how states should deal with the large
flows
of capital that over the past four decades have been mediated by the private sector.
On one side was the American model, with a variety of regulated banks, lightly regulated investment banks, and largely unregulated hedge funds managing the capital
flows.
The IMF was originally conceived in 1944 in a world without major private capital flows, one in which states undertook almost all international transactions.
It calls for the improved predictability of aid flows, with budget support and program-based aid as the preferred means of delivering support.
While it assumes predictable financial flows, such predictability can be spurious.
And while those causes include political pressures – particularly the devastating civil wars in Syria and Iraq – the refugee
flows
also reflect the inability of the Middle East to produce the income growth that is lifting Asia, Latin America, and large parts of Sub-Saharan Africa out of poverty.
But if lenders get cold feet, the resulting “sudden stop” in capital
flows
requires the country to cut back on key imports overnight, triggering a recession.
It is also what happened to Argentina recently: after a sudden stop in capital flows, the local currency lost half of its value and the economy lurched into recession (mercifully, a full financial crisis did not follow).
In a report submitted to the finance ministers and central bank governors gathered in Bali, the group argues that it should be possible for countries to benefit from international capital
flows
without risking excessive market volatility and crises.
Without global-governance institutions and legal frameworks to guide international cooperation, most countries must resort to unilateral management of their own migration
flows.
Policymakers should maximize migration’s economic benefits; facilitate legal channels so that migrants don’t choose illegal alternatives; reduce barriers for employment and remittances; manage irregular migration flows; and protect migrants’ safety, especially in war zones or when migration reaches crisis levels, as it has this year.
These projects also help countries to harness and use waste flows, by converting sewage to biogas and fertilizer.
Financial
flows
are excessively volatile.
Nonetheless, Europe needs to be much more generous in permanently writing down debt and, even more urgently, in reducing short-term repayment
flows.
Declining remittances from overseas workers, shrinking trade
flows
and investment could undermine new businesses, throw thousands out of work, and increase tensions and instability.
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