NEARLY half of the money that multinationals and wealthy investors poured into emerging markets in 2011 came via tax havens, resulting in revenue losses for poor countries, anti-poverty campaigners ActionAid said in a report yesterday.

Forty-six percent of reported cross-border investment into low and lower-middle income countries in 2011 came from tax havens, compared with 37 percent into upper-middle and high-income countries, ActionAid said, using IMF data on investment.

"Many multinationals and wealthy individuals place the legal ownership of valuable assets in companies registered offshore," the report said. "In some cases, such opaque corporate 'black boxes' can be used to evade tax. But even when they are used entirely lawfully, they can deny developing countries the ability to tax the wealth generated when mineral rights, factories, land and businesses in their territories change hands."