GIZ: Combating Illicit Financial Flows. 2018

Illicit Financial Flows (IFF) undermine international efforts to promote sustainable development. IFF are illegal movements of money and funds from one country to another. The funds e.g. stem from tax evasion, money laundering, corruption and other criminal activities such as human or drug trafficking.
According to estimates, developing countries lose up to USD 1 trillion annually because of IFF - which is around 7 times the amount they receive in official development aid. At the same time, less than 1% of IFFs are being seized.
The movement of illegal assets, such as tax evasion, harms both developing and developed countries. However, the effects of IFFs are especially devastating for developing countries. They damage the economy, decrease the mobilisation of domestic resources, facilitate transnational crime and undermine the rule of law. Cross-border collaboration is key in preventing and investigating illicit financial flows, as well as in ultimately recovering the stolen assets.