Illicit Financial Flows to and from African Countries

Global Financial Integrity published on 28 January 2019 its report titled "Illicit Financial Flows to and from 148 Developing Countries: 2006-2015."

The report provides country-level estimates of the illicit flows of money into and out of 148 developing and emerging market nations as a result of their trade in goods and services with advanced economies, as classified by the International Monetary Fund. The flows, referred to as illicit financial flows (IFFs) are estimated over the years from 2006 to 2015.

Research for 2015 using IMF Direction of Trade Statistics dataset show that the top quintile (30) of countries, ranked by dollar value of illicit outflows included the following African countries: South Africa ($10.2 billion) and Nigeria ($8.3 billion). The top quintile (30) of countries, ranked by illicit outflows as a percentage of total trade with advanced economies included the following African countries: Mozambique (48.1 percent), Malawi (44.1 percent), Zambia (43 percent), and Namibia (38.7 percent). The top 30 countries ranked by dollar value of illicit inflows included Morocco ($3.9 billion).

Using a Comtrade dataset from the United Nations produced somewhat different results.