Plea to curb illicit money flows

Dar es Salaam. A Washington DC-based non-profit organisation that conducts research on national and multilateral policies has called upon the Obama Administration and Heads of State from across Africa to prioritise efforts to curtail illicit financial flows from the continent.

The Global Financial Integrity (GFI) says curtailing illicit financial flows must be given due priority as African leaders descend on Washington this week for a historic US-Africa Summit.

GFI estimates that such flows cost the continent roughly $55.6 billion per year over the past decade.

“Illicit financial outflows are by far the most damaging economic problem facing Africa,” said GFI president Raymond Baker, who sits on the UN High Level Panel on Illicit Financial Flows from Africa. 

“In 2011 alone, $76.9 billion flowed illegally out of Africa.  That’s nearly $77 billion that could have been invested in local businesses, in healthcare, in education, or in infrastructure.  It’s money that could have been used to help pull people out of poverty and save lives.  This Summit provides an historic opportunity for the United States and for leaders across Africa to focus their efforts on curtailing this hemorrhage of illicit capital.”

According to the GFI statement,  it has evidence of the fact that $555.8 billion flowed illicitly out of Africa between 2002 and 2011, fueling crime, corruption, and tax evasion, while simultaneously draining hundreds of billions of dollars from African economies