The country is now a washing machine for illegal profits that sprouted a drug trade
By Milan Sime Martinic
Updated: September 10, 2023 22:19 IST
How has Ecuador’s use of the dollar as its official currency inadvertently turned the nation into a prime destination for laundering illicit profits from drug trafficking and other crimes?
Speaking exclusively to THE WEEK, Ecuadorian analyst Raul Portero says it is dollarisation that has allowed billions in dirty cash to enter the country and provided traffickers an ideal place to conceal shady transactions which, in turn, created a narcostate.
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The left-leaning Center for Strategic Research says illicit deposits spiked after 2017, coinciding with deregulation that boosted bank profits. In its research, the centre employed an innovative methodology analysing discrepancies between money supply growth and economic activity.
The study resonates with more significance in the context of Ecuador's escalating violence, which saw in the last months contract political assassinations, which experts link to laundering.
More:
https://www.theweek.in/news/biz-tech/2023/09/10/how-ecuador-became-a-safe-haven-for-the-world-dirty-money.html