Africa is losing hundreds of billions of dollars annually to financial crime and illicit financial flows (IFFs)! This massive drain, stemming from capital flight, profit shifting by multinational enterprises (MNEs), and corruption by elites, severely hinders the continent’s development.

Consider the scale of these losses:
• An average of $90 billion in IFFs is lost annually.
• A further $275 billion annually is lost due to profit-shifting by MNEs.
• $148 billion (or 25% of GDP) is lost through corruption.
• The estimated total leakage of capital from Africa could be as high as $587 billion annually, making Africa a net creditor to the world with a net external resource outflow of $390 billion.

The “African Economic Outlook 2025” report serves as both a diagnosis and a roadmap, demonstrating that with proper reforms, Africa can mobilize significant domestic resources by curbing resource leakages, including those from financial crime and illicit financial flows, to accelerate inclusive and sustainable growth.

Read the report here – https://www.afdb.org/en/documents/african-economic-outlook-2025