7. Lebanon
Bank Score: 4 FSI Score: 15 Total Score: 19
(FSI Score breakdown: FSI Rank: 5; FSI 1,013.1)
Lebanon may be a strange addition to this list to people who aren’t familiar with this country. Lebanese diaspora is estimated to number anywhere between 5 and 16 million people, some of which are very high-profile businessmen, like Carlos Smith, Carlos Ghosn (CEO of Renault), and Nicholas Hayek (CEO of Swatch). Lebanon has made it possible for all of them to keep their money in their home country by lax banking regulation. Lebanese in foreign countries were quick to take the opportunity, to the tune of US$175 billion worth of savings in country’s banks, which amounts to about 400% of Lebanon GDP. So far, Lebanon was adamantly against all international calls to cooperation with foreign tax services. If they keep it up, we may see them rising up on the list in future.
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