The 8th Pan Africa Conference on Illicit Financial Flows and Taxation held in the Ghanaian capital, Accra, focused on the impact of the coronavirus pandemic and on the urgent need for African countries to optimise public revenues from their natural resources.
If managed well, the conference convenors said natural resource wealth could be a major driver of growth and socio-economic transformation to counter the consequences of the coronavirus pandemic.
Key stakeholders
The annual convention brings together key stakeholders involved in efforts to curb illicit financial flows (IFFs) and enhance domestic resource mobilisation in Africa.
Participants included representatives of governments, civil society, international organisations, legislators, media, academia and national campaigners who took stock of the current state of IFFs in Africa and discussed plans and progress made to combat them through global, regional and country level initiatives.
Under pressure
The conference heard that the coronavirus pandemic has overstretched the resources needed by many African countries to fund essential services like education and health. Meanwhile the continental debt burden has grown while inflows of aid and foreign development investment have diminished.
This means African countries are under growing pressure to raise revenue locally and most would be able to raise the funds needed if IFFs were curbed. Most IFFs out of Africa derive from its extractive sector.
Categories: Trade Based Financial crimes News
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