At the UN general assembly session, Ecuador will propose the creation of a global tax regulator. The IMF estimates that tax dodging costs developing countries more than $200bn (£152bn) a year – much more than the total global aid budget. The proposed UN body would be made up of member states and be empowered to clamp down on tax-evading multinationals, shut down tax havens and expose the corrupt elite who are squirrelling their money away to avoid paying tax.

This is not a new idea. The same proposal was blocked at a UN meeting to discuss finance for development in Addis Ababa last year. Global tax rules are handled by the OECD, and Europe insisted that it should stay that way. But...Ecuador’s foreign minister, Guillaume Long, said...“The Panama papers have shone a spotlight on the murky world of tax havens”...