Business
Financial Flows: African CSOs Demand Implementation Of Mbeki Panel Report
A Consortium of Civil So
ciety Organisations in Africa recently, appealed to the AU leaders to implement recommendations of the Thabo Mbeki High Level Panel report on Illicit Financial Flows in Africa.
Tidesource reports that the CSOs ended their meeting in Addis Ababa at the margin of the AU Summit, resolving to encourage the leaders to immediately evolve a mechanism to implement the report recommendations.
The Heads of State are expected to review the report and its recommendations on Saturday January 31 in Addis Ababa at the ongoing Summit of the Union.
The consortium of CSOs urged AU Heads of States to extend the High Level Panel’s mandate and fully resource it to a Standing Committee or an AU agency that monitor the implementation of the report’s recommendations..
The Committee had looked at the consequences of illicit financial outflows from Africa, estimated at 50 billion dollars per year, according to Global Financial Integrity (GFI) and the African Development Bank.
Also, a new study from GFI discovered that illicit financial flows had been growing at an average rate of 9.4 per cent per year, while in sub-Saharan Africa alone, illicit financial flows amounted to 5.5 per cent of the region’s total Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
Mr Savior Mwambwa, Policy and Advocacy Manager for the Tax Justice Network Africa, had called on Afrcan leaders to devote a portion of the Summit session to illicit financial flows underlines to address the menace caused by the illicit flaws of finances.
He said the act was not only an extreme hindrance to Africa’s development, but “growing rapidly every year.“
Also speaking at the Consortium of CSOs, Tigere Chagutah of Oxfam said: “We urge AU to move quickly to adopt the recommendations contained in the report, in order to reap the benefits of new-found tax revenue that can address poverty and economic stagnation.