Pranab to press for sharing of banking, tax info at G-20

Finance minister Pranab Mukherjee will press for automatic sharing of banking and tax-related information among nations to check the menace of black money and terror funding at the two-day G-20 meeting of finance ministers and central bank governors beginning on Friday at Paris.

Finance minister Pranab Mukherjee will press for automatic sharing of banking and tax-related information among nations to check the menace of black money and terror funding at the two-day G-20 meeting of finance ministers and central bank governors beginning on Friday at Paris.

"Tax evasion and illicit flows have posed serious challenges to the world economy," a government release said, adding that the Minister will impress upon the member nations to voluntarily adopt mechanism for exchange of information.

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Mukherjee will leave for Paris this evening to attend the G-20 ministerial meeting which, among other things, will endeavour to formulate strategy to combat the global economic problems.

Formed in 1999, G-20, a club of rich and developing nations, accounts for 85 per cent of global output and two thirds of the world's population.

The G-20 ministerial is precursor to the Cannes Summit during which the leaders are expected to announce concrete steps to deal with the current global problems.

During his interventions at the ministerial, Mukherjee will also ask the G-20 members to persuade tax havens to regularly share information relating to black money and terror financing.

As regards the global economy, Mukherjee is likely to pitch for striking a fine balance between short-run and long-run measures to restore confidence of markets.