International Economy - Current Affairs for April, 2016

The "Panama Papers" trove of leaked documents revealing the vast extent of global tax evasion will be made available to the public on May 9, the ICIJ confirmed.

• The searchable database will include information about more than 2,00,000 secret companies, trusts and foundations based in 21 tax havens "from Hong Kong to Nevada in the United States," according to the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ).
• About 11.5 million leaked documents of the Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca, reveal the large-scale use of offshore entities to conceal assets from tax authorities.

Four international organisation joined hands to form the Platform for collaboration in Tax Matters on 19th April 2016.
- The Platform has been created as their step to boost global cooperation in tax matter
- The institute/organisations that joined their hands to intensify their cooperation on tax issues include

• The International Monetary Fund (IMF)
• The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)
• The United Nations (UN)
• The World Bank Group (WBG)

In a move to influence both the domestic and international price of gold, the Shanghai Gold Exchange has launched a price index denominated in the Chinese yuan.

• SGE, which is the world's largest physical gold exchange, said the new benchmark price will reflect the supply and demand situation in the China and reflect the price movements in the local market.
• SGE said the present system of market pricing was inequitable and needs to be changed.
• China is the biggest consumer of gold in the world