Zuma warns illicit financial outflows hinder Africa

PRESIDENT Zuma has warned that illicit financial flows out of Africa of about $50 billion (R695bn) a year were depriving the continent of much-needed resources for development. The Presidency quoted Zuma as saying: “Illicit financial flows deprive developing countries of the much-needed economic resources to uplift their economies in order to provide infrastructure and basic services such as education and health care.”

He made his remarks during his address at the UN General Assembly meeting in the US this week.

“The successful implementation of Africa’s development plans depends on the availability of resources. We are there- fore concerned about the loss of resources of the continent through illicit financial flows.”

The Joint AU and UN Economic Commission for Africa’s High-level Panel on Illicit Financial Flows from Africa estimates that illicit flows from Africa could be about $50bn a year.

Zuma said: “It is a wellknown reality that our continent, particularly sub-Saharan Africa, did not achieve the targets that were set in the Millennium, Development Goals (MDGs). It was for this reason that we insisted that the Sustainable Development Goals should continue the unfinished business of the MDGs.”

“We have made significant strides in the past couple of decades in reversing the impact of underdevelopment and the legacies of colonialism and apartheid in Africa.”

Zuma said if Africa was to develop faster, “we need to address certain constraints”. He said the constraints included inadequate infrastructure, high dependency on primary products, high exposure to commodity price volatility, limited investment in research and development, science, innovation and technology, low private sector investment and skills inadequacy.

He said South Africa had put in place a National Development Plan which was aligned to AU Agenda 2063, as well as the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

“At the core of our development plan is the focus on poverty eradication and the upliftment of the standard of living of our people,” said Zuma, who was one of the speakers on the opening day of the assembly.

Zuma said beyond the continent we remained concerned about threats of terrorism.

He said 15 years after the September 11 terrorist attacks on the US, international terrorism remained a challenge that no single country or region could successfully deal with.

Zuma said the conflicts in Libya and Syria had provided a fertile ground for the terrorists to carry out their unjustified terrorist activities. – African News Agency