Capital Flight from Sub-Saharan African Countries: Updated Estimates, 1970 - 2010
- Research Report October 2012
- Massachusetts University of Massachusetts 2012
- 26p.
The performance of Sub-Saharan African economies over the past decade has inspired optimism on the region’s prospects for accelerating progress towards its development goals. This report provides updated estimates of capital flight for 33 SSA countries from 1970 to 2010. It describes the methodology used to estimate capital flight and highlights important methodological differences with other existing studies. The report presents key results on capital flight both in absolute terms and in comparison to other capital flows, especially debt, aid, and foreign direct investment, as well as in relation to the size of the economy (as percentage of GDP and in per capita terms). The report stresses the urgency of efforts to stem capital flight and repatriate stolen assets as a part of the broader goals of scaling up development financing, combating corruption, and improving transparency in the global financial system.
