Could illicit financial flows out of low-income African countries be even more significant?
Low-income countries (LICs) are typically very poor reporters of data. I have seen this at the IMFs statistics department, where I worked for 13 years, as well as during many technical assistance missions in Africa. The reason LICs tend to be poor reporters is that their statistical budgets are under heavy pressure. Many of these countries are barely able to meet their basic social and development expenditures for health, education, drinking water, and so forth. The production of statistics tends to be very expensive for developing countries where budgets are under tremendous stress. We have adjusted for the missing data but the gaps are very substantial. Q: According to your research, some of the countries worst affected by illicit capital flight are those experiencing conflicts, as in the Horn of Africa? A: Indeed. Some countries like Somalia and Sudan, which have had long-standing conflicts, or Eritrea, which fought Ethiopia, have not been exempt from illicit financial flows. Q: The
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