Africa: The Billions That Got Away
- Nairobi TrustAfrica and Mail & Guardian Africa 2015
- 16p.
This is a special report examining the Illicit outflows of money from the continent and the need for a global response to stem it.It reveals that Africa loses approximately US$50 billion annually through Illicit Financial Flows (IFFs) with the AU/ECA’s High Level Panel on Illicit Financial Flows report and other studies arguing that Africa lost over US$1 trillion through IFFs in the last 50 years – an amount similar to Official Development Assistance in the same period. It argues that many, have always been cautious about the over dramatised narrative of “Africa Rising” especially as it mostly uses Gross Domestic Product (GDP) as a measure of growth. Other Human Development indicators such as Gross National Income (GNI), access to affordable health care, education, and decent jobs are rarely considered in the ongoing optimism surrounding Africa.
