Africa loses a big chunk of money as a result of illicit financial flows (IFFs).  Different studies have indicated that these IFFs are responsible for draining the African continent of resources for development and are detrimental to revenue mobilization efforts. For example the recent report by the High Level Panel on Illicit Financial Flows (AU/ECA HLP) from Africa, show that the continent loses more than $50 billion annually through IFFs.

During its 2014 Annual General Meeting (AGM), Policy Forum (PF) secretariat arranged for a field visit aimed at familiarizing   its upcountry members with  the work of key government institutions that  it has been closely working with. For 2014, the National Audit Office (NAO) and the Commission for Human Rights and Good governance (CHRAGG) were selected for the familiarization tour.

The field visits were done on day one of the AGM in the afternoon where  two teams were formed, one to visit the NAO and the other to visit CHRAGG.

Policy Forum this week held a special half-day discussion on illicit financial flows from Africa with two international experts on the topic. Raymond Baker, the founder and CEO of the Global Financial Integrity, the leading global institute on illicit financial flow studies was joined by Alvin Mosioma, Coordinator of the Tax Justice Network for Africa, an institution which aims to promote socially just, democratic and progressive taxation systems in Africa.

Forum Syd, Mwanza Policy Initiative and Policy Forum organized a seminar on capital flight which was held at the Victoria Palace Hotel in Mwanza on 29th November 2011

On the 23rd of September, Policy Forum's Budget Working Group (BWG) was invited by Forum Syd and Svenska Institutet to present at a breakfast seminar in Sweden on illicit capital flight from poor countries, how it affects development, and how it can be stopped. The presentation centred on a new report on the subject of which the BWG co-authored.

For Immediate Release; Monday 9th March 2009

9 March 2009 (Dar Es Salaam) – On the day before a high-level conference of policymakers co-hosted by Tanzanian president Jakaya Kikwete and International Monetary Fund Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn, civil society groups are calling for new and more flexible economic policies in Tanzania and across the African region. In the midst of a global financial crisis, developed-country governments are enacting bold, expansionary stimulus policies in efforts to trigger growth and fight off recession.