Illicit Financial Flows Out of Africa Damage the Chances to Recover from COVID

This Newsletter reported on the recent UNCTAD report on economic development in Africa which estimated that $88.6 billion leaves the continent as illicit financial flows (IFFs) – that amount would be enough to finance almost half the annual financing gap that the continent needs to achieve the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals. In March UNCTAD and the UN Office for Drugs and Crime (UNODC) unveiled a new template to help governments measure IFFs better and design more effective policy responses. IFFs are the illegal movement of money from one country to another. This occurs through both organized crime and trade in illegal goods and through illicit tax and commercial practices, such as trade misinvoicing, profit shifting and the transfer of funds to offshore destinations.