The UK-based NGO Tax Justice Network has published the newest edition of its Opacity Index. This global ranking assesses the level of financial opacity across 141 countries, measuring the degree of transparency shortcomings and opacity in banking and tax systems.
The index specifically examines national laws and financial practices, the volume of financial services provided to non-residents and systems that enable wealth concealment.
Financial opacity, as opposed to transparency, refers to the lack of access and clarity that allows certain actors to hide assets abroad beyond the reach of tax authorities and judicial oversight.
“When wealth is hidden offshore, it operates beyond the law. This fuels tax evasion and criminal activity while undermining human rights and democratic systems,” warns Tax Justice Network.
Tunisia ranks 110th out of 141 countries analyzed, with a financial opacity score of 52 out of 100. In this ranking, a lower rank indicates a higher level of transparency.
Tunisia is doing rather well in Africa. It ranks fifth on the continent, with one of the best scores.
Specifically, it scores 100 for income from foreign investments and property ownership, and 80 for tax compliance — high scores indicating a high degree of permissiveness in these areas.
However, the country performs poorly in other areas, achieving only 20 for its efforts to combat money laundering and 30 for the transparency of advance tax rulings and extractive industry contracts.
Botswana is the highest-ranked African country in the index. It ranks 131s) globally with a score of 56 and is praised for its efforts in financial transparency.
It is followed by Rwanda (118th), Gambia (117th) and Liberia (116th), with Tunisia completing the top five.
Tunisia stands out as a top performer in North Africa, as it is the highest-ranked country in the region, ahead of Morocco (63rd globally and 9th in Africa with a score of 69), Egypt (41st) and Algeria (33rd), which lag significantly behind.
At the other end of the ranking is Algeria, the lowest-rated African country. Its financial services are less extensive than Ghana’s, which has a volume of $336.5 million. However, a lack of transparency mechanisms places it among the most opaque jurisdictions on the continent.
The index also criticises the United States, particularly under the Trump administration, for slowing down reforms aimed at establishing fairer global tax cooperation.
The United States, the United Kingdom, Luxembourg, Singapore and Germany are among the countries that most facilitate opaque financial flows. They are closely followed by Switzerland, Hong Kong, France and Northern Ireland.
Conversely, countries that are least involved in financial opacity are often small, isolated islands or Caribbean states that display significantly higher levels of transparency. Examples include Montserrat, the Cook Islands, American Samoa, Antigua and Barbuda, and Slovenia.
It should be noted that scores range from 0 to 100: 0 indicates total transparency, while 100 indicates unlimited scope for financial opacity.
The index is based on over 100 criteria, categorised into 20 indicators that assess tax transparency, international cooperation, and access to information on company beneficial owners, among other things.
