ECONOMIC COMPETITION

Global crisis blame game

The pressure the OCDE is bearing on Panama must end, said Morgan

STAFF

PANAMA. Former Panama ambassador in the US, Eduardo Morgan Jr. , has sent a letter to the director of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (PCDE), Jeffrey Owens, blaming the members of this group for the current economicl crisis and accusing them of not allowing a true market competition between finance centers.

The letter, dated September 3, say the OCDE “is not a real international organization like the International Monetary fund, the World Trade Organization, and the International Maritime Organization are”. Morgan compares the OECD to a club and a cartel, where 30 rich countries pledge to help their members achieve sustainable economical growth by curbing competition to their finance centers. According to Morgan, the OCDE has begun a deceitful campaign against ill-named tax havens to hide their responsibility for the disaster in the economy. It is ironic, says Morgan, that the OECD major contributing member is the US (25%) and paradoxically, the biggest tax haven in the world. To Panama's advantage, the FMI eliminated the discrimination between on shore and off shore banking definitions on July 9, 2008. Although offshore banking has been associated in the past with the underground economy and organized crime, it does represent access to politically and economically stable jurisdictions and lower costs and higher interest rates.