Petya Vasileva
Current Challenges to the Offshore Business
Summary:
Offshore business is such an integral part of the financial sec¬tor that we can hardly imagine the world of money without it. Today we are as accustomed to offshore business as people were to slavery in the 18th and the 19th century when slave labour was considered normal and natural. How¬ever, it goes without saying that just like slavery, offshore zones are doomed to gradual decline because they function is parasitic. According to a study conducted by the international confederation Oxfam, offshore companies evade taxes for nearly $ 200 billion each year. In fact about 50% of Russia's assets, 57% of the Arab Emirates’ oil funds, and 30% of Africa's funds are hidden in offshore zones. According to the above report, 1% of the world population now have more wealth than the other 99%. The richest sixty peo¬ple have more money than three and a half billion poor people. Such inequali¬ty is possible only through the cooperation of offshore zones. The US Nation¬al Bureau of Economic Research estimates that about $ 5.6 trillion is kept in offshore zones around the world. This amount represents 8% of the global equity or 10% of the world's gross domestic product.
