IFF

Illicit Financial Flows

The 4th Joint African Union Commission/United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (AUC/ECA) Conference of African Ministers of Finance, Planning and Economic Development was held in 2011. This Conference mandated ECA to establish the High Level Panel on Illicit Financial Flows from Africa. Underlying this decision was the determination to ensure Africa’s accelerated and sustained development, relying as much as possible on its own resources.

Illicit financial flows - why Africa needs to “track it, stop it and get it”

Financing development in Africa has proved to be difficult in the past, compelling the continent to rely on external sources including overseas development assistance. This type of assistance is often unevenly distributed, unsustainable and, in some cases, damaging to national economies in the long run. Lessons learned from Africa’s development trajectory over the past three decades have prompted a fresh wave of thinking towards a post-2015 development agenda and Agenda 2063 transformative developmental framework designed to ensure self-reliance for Africa.

Secretariat

Primary Purpose and Functions of the Secretariat

The Technical Committee is aided by the Secretariat throughout the process. It will provide secretariat services for the HLP and substantive support to the Technical Committee.

The specific objectives of the Secretariat will be to:

Technical Committee

Structure of the Technical Committee

Membership of the Technical Committee will be from relevant divisions of AUC and ECA that are directly involved in activities related to combating illicit financial flows and external advisors. The Technical Committee will have the following institutional arrangement:

Chairperson:

  • Deputy Executive Secretary, ECA: Mr. Abdalla Hamdok

Members:

Panel Members

H.E. Mr. Thabo MbekiMbeki

Mr. Mbeki served two terms as the second post-apartheid Pres­ident of South Africa from 14 June 1999 to 24 September 2008. He was the President of the African National Congress from 1997-2007. Mr. Mbeki held the position of Chairperson of the African Union.(2002- 2003) Mr. Mbeki holds a Masters Degree in Economics from Sussex University.

IFF Background

1. Illicit financial flows out of Africa have become a matter of major concern because of the scale and negative impact of such flows on Africa’s development and governance agenda.  By some estimates, illicit flows from Africa could be as much as US $50 billion per annum. This is approximately double the official development assistance (ODA) that Africa receives and, indeed, the estimate may well be short of reality as accurate data does not exist for all transactions and for all African countries.

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