Curbing Illicit Financial Flows from the African continent/U.S.-Africa Summit
African states and the U.S. agreed at their recent summit to establish a high-level working group to address the losses suffered by the African continent from illicit financial flows and corruption. African leaders demanded that the world’s richest nations strengthen their laws against money laundering, tax havens and tax evasion in order to tackle corruption and illicit flows from the African continent. G7 countries are creating opportunities for those who loot African countries. In many countries the volume
of financial outflows exceeds the inflows of aid due to corruption, money laundering and tax evasion.
Global Finance Integrity highlightes the role of the United States as a major facilitator of such outflows stating that the United States was the second easiest country in the world—after Kenya—for a kleptocrat to incorporate a shell company to launder ill-gotten-gains.
There was also a demand that the complex tax structures multinational corporations use to minimize their tax burdens be addressed.
At the summit it was also discussed to support African countries in negotiating fair natural resources contracts with multinationals through expert technical assistance. Many countries of the African continent although rich in natural resources are the poorest of the world. Getting such contracts right is key.