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.

The world loses more than $2 trillion annually due to illicit trade, which drains countries of valuable resources and impedes sustainable development.

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 helps strengthen international trade statisticians’ skills and capacity, for a continuous flow of high-quality statistics amid pandemic-induced disruptions to data supply.

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.

Pilot projects are using the new framework to calculate the costs of illicit trade and business practices in Afghanistan, Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico, Nigeria, Panama and Peru.

Gold accounts for 77% of the $40 billion worth of under invoiced extractive commodity exports from Africa, according to UNCTAD research. Diamonds represent 12% and platinum 6%.

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