Out of Africa: The great money migration – Features – Al Jazeera English.

“Almost $2 trillion has left Africa illicitly since 1970, thwarting poverty reduction and economic growth.

The figures are staggering: At least $1.8 trillion illicitly flowed out of Africa between 1970 and 2009.

This is far more than the external aid the continent received over the same period, and almost five times its current external debt. According to researchers, the continent also loses at least $100bn a year in this financial haemorrhage.

 

African leaders convened this week in the Ethiopian city of Bahar Dar to discuss illicit financial flows and what can be done to staunch them. A study commissioned by the Tana High Level Forum on African Security, which organised the conference, found that illicit flows from Africa grew at an average rate of 12.1 percent per year since 1970, and that capital flight from West and Central African countries accounted for most of the illicit flows from sub-Saharan Africa…”