ATTRIBUTING high prices of food and oil to speculation and greed, Latin American economies have urged UN fornew market rules and proposed a 5 per cent tax on financial transactions to spur growth and prosperity.

With $4 trillion circulating every day untaxed around the world in financial transactions, such a tax would bring in $4.8 trillion annually, Dominican Republic President Leonel Fernández told the General Assembly on the second day of its 66th annual General Debate.

If it was felt that this is not an appropriate way for States to collect income, he noted that more than $10 trillion deposited in tax havens, increasing by $600 billion each year, without a dime entering the tax department of any Government, he added.

Citing international analysts for figures showing that 30 to 40 per cent of increases for commodities are attributable to financial speculation on futures contracts, he called for limits on the volume of such insurance companies, investment banks, pension funds, and equity funds that are in no way involved in the physical handling of the product, along with an increase in deposit guarantees to disincentive speculative transactions that only contribute to price volatility.