LUSAKA, Mar. 3 (Xinhua) -- Zambia on Friday called on the continent's finance ministers to address the issue of illicit money flows, a growing problem it says is hampering development.
Zambia's permanent representative to the African Union Susan Sikaneta delivered the remarks during a quarterly briefing of the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) ahead of the Conference for African Ministers of Finance, Planning and Economic Development, to be held March 12-17 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
Sikaneta said it was unfortunate that Africa was losing colossal sums of money through illicit financial flows, without any solution in sight.
Africa requires practical steps that will see the continent recover funds lying in offshore accounts for development purposes, according to a statement released by the Zambia embassy in Ethiopia.
The Zambian envoy said it was high time Africa utilized important conferences to come up with concrete resolutions to spur development.
"These conferences have in the past tended not to produce significant impacts in member states but have always been business as usual," she said.
Vera Songwe, Executive Secretary of the ECA urged member states to take an initiative to join global tax transparency and other relevant legislation and to ensure that money and assets siphoned out of the continent through illicit means was brought back once tracked.
It is important that countries take the necessary steps that are needed to ensure that illicit financial flows are curbed, she added.
Illicit financial flows out of Africa have become a source of concern because of their scale and negative impact on the continent's development.
According to figures, Africa loses about 50 billion U.S. dollars per year in illicit financial flows, which is double the official development assistance to the continent.
