PHOTO CREDITS: The East African
By
Anthony Kitimo
Africa has been selected to pilot a United Nations-funded project to reduce illicit financial flows. The pilot by the United Nation Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) support the project, which is aimed at helping the region achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in the next decade.
UNCTAD and UNODC said the framework, adopted this week, was arrived at through collaborations with international organisations and national tax, Customs and statistics experts.
The framework identifies four main types of activities that can generate IFFs — illicit tax and commercial activities, illegal markets, corruption and financing of crime and terrorism.
The measures will also be extended to Asia and the Pacific from next year, as part of a global war against IFFs to promote peace, justice and strong institutions, as reflected in target 16.4 of the SDGs. According to UNCTAD’s Economic Development in Africa Report 2020, stopping illicit capital flight would cut in half the annual financing gap of $200 billion with an estimated $88.6 billion reported to leave the continent illegally.
