Emerging markets see first capital outflows since 1988 in 2015, IIF says

Net capital outflows to emerging markets went into reverse in 2015 because of China.

It was the first instance of net capital flight since 1988, the Financial Times reported citing a report from the Institute for International Finance.

Monies were drained from emerging markets to the tune of $735bn, easily outpacing the $540bn projected by the IIF in October.

All but $59bn of that amount exited China.

Significantly, the discrepancy between the actual outcome and the IIF’s forecast was largely the result of the opacity of the financial channels used to run the blockade of Beijing’s capital controls.

Many of those flows appear to have fallen into the category of ‘errors and omissions’.