Illicit Financial Flows

UNCTAD and its partners continue to work with several developing countries to produce official data on selected types of illicit financial flows.

The country is striving to unlock more resources for sustainable development by tracking and tackling illicit financial flows.

UNCTAD, UNODC and their partners have developed tools and methods that are supporting 22 countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America track selected illicit financial flows.

UNCTAD and UN regional commissions are piloting new methods for tallying the cross-border movement of money that is illicit in origin, transfer or use.

UNCTAD is working with national statistical offices to better measure the scale of illegal movements of money across borders to inform firmer policy action.

The project and related guidelines will support interested African countries to assess the types of illicit financial flows relevant to their national contexts.

By Paul Akiwumi, Director of Division for Africa and Least Developed Countries, UNCTAD

By Paul Akiwumi, Director for Africa and Least Developed Countries, UNCTAD

An UNCTAD data evaluation tool helps the southern African nation recover an additional $1 million in export dues from mining companies in one year.

UNCTAD’s Economic Development in Africa Report 2020 says stopping illicit capital flight could almost cut in half the annual financing gap of $200 billion that the continent faces to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals.