Economy - Africa’s bleeding stops here!

 Click on the link to see an infographic
highlighting the seriousness of the situation

Africa has been bleeding for decades, losing trillions of dollars to tax dodgers through illicit financial flows. This phenomenon, a common practice by multinational corporations, is also known as “illicit financial flight”.

This is money that could have gone towards development interests for millions of Africans. To help remedy the state of affairs, a new campaign was launched on Thursday that aims to help reverse illicit financial flows from the continent once and for all.
It is estimated that the continent alone loses US$50-billion each year to illicit capital flight, amounting to US$1.8-trillion between 1970 and 2008. This is 20% more than the amount of official development assistance coming in.

Nairobi, Kenya, played host to the launch of Stop the Bleeding, an initiative that is the result of years of work by several organisations operating in the tax justice field, and is a unified African CSO-led campaign to stop illicit financial flows from Africa. With this initiative, the Interim Working Group (IWG) of the African Illicit Financial Flow Campaign Platform aims to eradicate this particular illegal practice of large businesses doing work on the continent.

Other organisations involved include Tax Justice Network - Africa; Third World Network - Africa; Africa Forum and Network on Debt and Development; the African Women’s Development and Communication Network; the African Regional Organisation of the International Trade Union Confederation; and Trust Africa.

Government/AU support

A recent report from the African Union (AU) / Economic Commission for Africa's high level panel on illicit financial flows from Africa, chaired by former president Thabo Mbeki, estimates that the African continent alone is losing roughly $50-billion each year.

In its January Declaration on Illicit Financial Flows, the AU Assembly asserted that “curtailing illicit financial flows through, inter alia, institutionalising prudent legal and regulatory regimes, including fiscal policies that disallow financial secrecy, fight corruption, institute and/or strengthen African institutions, build African member states capacity for contract negotiation, tax administration and identify and return the resources lost through illicit financial flows can greatly contribute to the alternative sources of financing Africa’s development agenda”. Read more on Corruption Watch...