Concerted strategies by stakeholders to curb illicit financial flows(IFFs) in Africa will culminate in an action-plan at the end of a workshop organised by the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) and its partners in Nairobi, Kenya.
(IFFs) from Africa are estimated at $50 billion per annum, approximately double the official development assistance (ODA) the continent receives.
These flows have been negatively impacting Africa’s development and governance agenda, draining foreign exchange reserves, reducing tax collection, cancelling out investment flows and worsening poverty.
“Stakeholders are in agreement on the need to scale-up efforts to ensure Africa does not continue to lose billions of dollars that could be funding its own growth and development,” ECA Acting Executive Secretary Abdalla Hamdok said.
The Nairobi workshop will among other things establish a clear work plan and deliverable actions for the core group and Consortium of Stakeholders working on mitigating the continent’s IFFs challenge.
It will also review and endorse the draft terms of reference of the Consortium.
The meeting will build on previous consultations where stakeholders underlined the limited capacity to tackle IFFs at national, sub-regional and continental levels; bringing attention to need for building capacity and sharpening of existing tools to implement the High Level Panel recommendations.
The High Level Panel Report on IFFs from Africa and implementation of its recommendations were endorsed by African Union Heads of State at their 2014 Summit.
This week’s workshop will bring together representatives from the African Union Commission (AUC), the ECA, the African Development Bank (AfDB), the Thabo Mbeki Foundation, Open Society Foundation and the Tax Justice Network among others.
IFFs are facilitated by international tax havens and secrecy jurisdictions that enable creation and operation of disguised corporations, shell companies, anonymous trust accounts and fake charitable foundations.
Money laundering and transfer pricing also enable illicit financial flows, undermining the rule of law, stifling trade and worsening macroeconomic conditions.
The Nairobi workshop will run from 21 to 22 November 2016.