Africa is experiencing significant losses, estimated at around $40 billion annually, due to illicit financial flows (IFFs) in the extractive sector, according to Antonio Pedro, deputy executive secretary of the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA).
Such financial losses not only hinder developmental progress but also exacerbate economic injustices, depriving African populations of access to essential resources and underscoring the connection between IFFs and the pursuit of reparatory justice.
He argued that IFFs in the extractive sector were one of the symptoms of a serious structural problem compounding Africa’s development, i.e. its excessive dependence on the export of raw materials, an extractivist model and construct inherited from colonial times. He noted that exporting raw materials was exporting jobs, a luxury that the continent cannot afford, given the need to create at least 20 million jobs annually for the youth. As such, addressing IFFS and its root causes should be at the centre of Africa’s development policy and action.