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Uche Usim, Abuja
A 2020 Tax Transparency in Africa report has shown that countries on the continent are making progress in the fight to curb the annual tax revenue loss of €17 billion.
The steady success stems from the collective efforts of African nations in boosting information exchange, tackling tax evasion, money laundering and illicit financial flows estimated at between $50 billion and $80 billion annually.
The report reckoned that 44% of
Africa’s financial wealth is thought to be held offshore.
It further noted that Africa, in 2019. made great strides in strengthening
commitments and capacity to achieve tax transparency.
The Tax Transparency in Africa 2020, produced by the Global Forum for Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes, the African Union and African Tax Administration Forum (ATAF), in close partnership with the African Development Bank – noted the need for African countries to engage further in revenue mobilization, a concern sharpened by the backdrop of the ongoing global novel coronavirus pandemic.
The report was published during a virtual launch on Thursday.
The report provides comparable tax transparency statistics to aid decision makers to address illicit fund flows. The 2020 report covers 32 Global Forum member countries, and three non-members: Angola,
Guinea Bissau and Malawi.
“This annual publication of the Tax Transparency in Africa is part of the various efforts of the continent
to advance global tax transparency and exchange of information agenda in Africa in order to combat corruption, tax evasion, money laundering, fraud, base erosion, and profit shifting and illicit enrichment,” said Victor Harrison, African Union Commission Commissioner for Economic Affairs, in the report’s preface.
Participating countries show significant advances on the AI’s two core pillars: raising political awareness and commitment and developing capacities in tax transparency and exchange of information.
