Surge in illicit capital flows highlighted

A lack of cooperation and information exchange between countries is limiting Africa's efforts to prevent illicit financial flows, experts have warned. Ministers at the UN Economic Commission for Africa's (Uneca) Conference of Finance say capital flows from Africa were stifling domestic resource mobilisation efforts. ‘The debate is not about the seriousness of the issue. The magnitude is high, is increasing. The challenge is how we can arrest it. This is an African problem. The only way we can resolve together is by working together with our partners,’ said Abdalla Hamdok, Uneca's deputy executive secretary. The East African reports that they also said money illegally transferred across borders has more than doubled to $100bn annually from $50bn in 2015. Nara Monkam, research director at Africa Tax Administration Forum, noted the main components of illicit financial flows are international commercial transactions including tax evasion, trade mis-invoicing and abusive transfer pricing by multinational corporations.