World is plundering Africa's wealth for 'billions of dollars a year'
More wealth leaves Africa every year than
enters it – by more than $40bn (£31bn) – according to research that challenges
“misleading” perceptions of foreign aid. Analysis by a
coalition of UK and African equality and development campaigners including
Global Justice Now, published on Wednesday, claims the rest of the world is
profiting more than most African citizens from the continent’s wealth. It said African
countries received $162bn in 2015, mainly in loans, aid and personal
remittances. But in the same year, $203bn was taken from the continent, either
directly through multinationals repatriating profits and illegally moving money
into tax havens, or by costs imposed by the rest of the world through climate
change adaptation and mitigation.
This led to an annual
financial deficit of $41.3bn from the 47 African countries where many people
remain trapped in poverty, according to the report, Honest Accounts 2017. The campaigners said
illicit financial flows, defined as the illegal movement of cash between
countries, account for $68bn a year, three times as much as the $19bn Africa
receives in aid.
Tim Jones, an
economist from the Jubilee Debt Campaign, said: “The key message we want to get
across is that more money flows out of Africa than goes in, and if we are to
address poverty and income inequality we have to help to get it back.” The key factors
contributing to this inequality include unjust debt payments and multinational
companies hiding proceeds through tax avoidance and corruption, he said. African governments
received $32bn in loans in 2015, but paid more than half of that – $18bn – in
debt interest, with the level of debt rising rapidly… read more:
