Let's get our money back, Mbeki tells Pan-African Parliament
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2015-05Author(s)/Corporate Author (s)
United Nations. Economic Commission for Africa.;Metadata
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Africa needs large volumes of capital to address poverty eradication and underdevelopment but annually, fraud and corruption result in $50 billion leaving the continent. To fight this capital-depleting trend, Mr. Thabo Mbeki, the former South African president and Chair of the High Level Panel on Illicit Financial Flows, told delegates at the Pan-African Parliament in Midrand, South Africa that African states should seek international cooperation and joint action and should look at the role of the countries receiving this money. The report points to using tax holidays as an incentive for foreign direct investment as one of the culprits because states fail to undertake appropriate cost-benefit analyses. When governments offer tax holidays, they should coordinate with tax authorities in their regions to set common standards, the report recommends.