By Neil Chatterjee
    The U.S. has promised it will hunt down tax evaders.
    And it seems tax evaders are on the run.
    DBS bank, based in the growing offshore financial centre of
Singapore, told Reuters it had been approached by U.S. citizens
asking for its private banking services. But when told they would
have to sign U.S. tax declaration forms, the potential clients
disappeared.  
    Swiss banks also approached DBS on the hope they could
offload troublesome U.S. clients to a location that so far has
not been reached by the strong arms of Washington or Brussels.
    DBS said no thanks. In fact many private banks and boutique
advisors now seem to be avoiding U.S. clients.
    Will this spread to other nationalities, as governments
invest in tax spies and tax havens invest in white paint?
    Is this the end of offshore private private banking?

"Mr Deputy Speaker, the UK economy contracted by 1.6 per cent in the last quarter of 2008. For the first quarter of this year, I expect the economy will again contract by a similar amount."

 Thus spake poor old Alistair Darling at lunchtime on Wedesday. Less than 48 hours later, the first (of many) of his Budget forecasts was proved wrong, as UK National Statistics reported that the economy shrank by 1.9 per cent in the first quarter.

This difference is a little matter of 4.5 billion pounds, and it makes his forecast of minus 3.5 per cent for this year look even less plausible.

Still, there's a certain grim satisfaction over at National Statistics. It proves that the accusations of ministers being allowed to see the figures before publication, to spin them they way they want, are unfounded. It's an ill wind...