The African Development Bank has revealed that the continent loses about $1.6bn every day to illicit financial flows and profit shifting on the part of multinationals operating in Africa.
This was disclosed by the Chief Economist of AfDB, Kevin Urama, in an exclusive interview with The PUNCH.
According to the International Monetary Fund, illicit financial flows refer to the movement of money across borders that is illegal in its source (e.g. corruption, smuggling), its transfer (e.g. tax evasion), or its use (e.g. terrorist financing).
For decades, the IMF has played a key role in international efforts to combat these opaque and often destabilising transfers.
It also has longstanding concerns with flows that are not strictly illegal but are associated with tax avoidance.
Urama said that Africa was losing more than it was getting back via Foreign Direct Investment and said that the focus of stakeholders should be on blocking the outflow rather than chasing inflows.
