Illicit Financial Flows: A Constraint on Poverty Reduction in Africa Nkurunziza, Janvier D Corruption, Capital flight The amount of illicit financial flows out of Africa is staggering. According to estimates by Global Financial Integrity (GFI), these flows amounted to between USD 854 billion and $1.8 trillion over the period 1970-2008 (GFI 2010). Another study found that the cumulated amount of capital flight out of Sub-Saharan Africa over the same period is in excess of $700 billion (Ndikumana and Boyce 2011). It is ironic that out of the six countries with the highest average capital flight over the period 2000 to 2008, namely Angola, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Cote d'Ivoire, Nigeria, South Africa, and Zimbabwe, four had poverty rates above the African average in 2008. Moreover, five out of eight countries with the highest capital flight in Africa are classified as low human development countries (UNDP 2011). Geneva Association of Concerned Africa Scholars 2012 2012 Text 7p. http://iffoadatabase.trustafrica.org/iff/illicit_financial_flows_a_constraint_on_poverty_reduction_in_africa.pdf