Capital flight from Africa since 1970 amounts to $2 trillion[1]. These outflows exceed annual inflows of development assistance and foreign direct investment received by African countries. Including interest income that would have been earned on these outflows, cumulative private wealth held offshore stood at $2.4 trillion by 2018[2]. This represents more than three times the stock of debt owed by the continent in that year, ironically making Africa a “net creditor” to the rest of the world.
A new book edited by professors Léonce Ndikumana and James K. Boyce of the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, looks at the complex issues around capital flight from Africa. On the Trail of Capital Flight from Africa: The Takers and the Enablers investigates the dynamics of capital flight from Angola, Côte d'Ivoire and South Africa, countries that have witnessed large-scale illicit financial outflows in recent decades.
The evidence reveals a complex network of actors and enablers involved in orchestrating and facilitating capital flight and the accumulation of private wealth in offshore secrecy jurisdictions. The book highlights that capital flight is a global phenomenon, and that measures to curtail it are a shared responsibility for Africa and the global community. Addressing the problem of capital flight and related issues – such as trade misinvoicing, money-laundering, tax evasion and theft of public assets by political and economic elites – will require national and global efforts with a high level of coordination.
Join us to explore findings and hear analysis from co-authors of On the Trail of Capital Flight from Africa: The Takers and the Enablers and case study authors and learn how we can build on recent multilateral efforts to combat tax evasion and theft of national assets in Africa.
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PROGRAMME
Introduction:
Richard Kozul-Wright, Director, Division on Globalization and Development Strategies, UNCTAD.
Author presentation
Léonce Ndikumana, Distinguished Professor & Director, African Development Policy Program, Political Economy Research Institute, University of Massachusetts Amherst.
Nicholas Shaxson, Writer, Journalist, and Investigator, Tax Justice Network, Berlin, Germany
James K. Boyce, Professor Emeritus of Economics and Senior Fellow at the Political Economy Research Institute, University of Massachusetts Amherst.
Discussion
H.E. Margarida Rosa da Silva Izata, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, Permanent Representative of Republic of Angola to the United Nations Office and other international organizations in Geneva
Rob Davies, Ex-Minister of Trade and Industry, Republic of South Africa
Janvier Désiré Nkurunziza, Chief, Commodities Branch and Chief of Research and Analysis Section, Division on International Trade and Commodities, UNCTAD.
Closing remarks
Attiya Waris, Professor of Law, and Director of Research and Enterprise at the University of Nairobi, and UN Independent Expert on Foreign Debt and Human Rights
https://unctad.org/meeting/debate-trail-capital-flight-africa