African countries losing 100 billion dollars annually?

Addis Ababa [Ethiopia], Jan 28 (ANI): African countries could be losing 100 billion dollars annually through corruption, according to a senior African development expert.

Speaking on the sidelines of the 30th AU Summit in Ethiopia, Emmanuel Nnadozie, executive secretary of the African Capacity Building Foundation (ACBF), the African Union's (AU) specialized agency for capacity development, said on Sunday, "The amount of money Africa is losing through corruption might have been seriously underestimated."

According to current ACBF studies, Africa is losing at least 50 billion dollars annually in corrupt practices. However, Nnadozie stated that such figures have been tampered with, due to political influence and is underestimated, reported Xinhua.

"Corruption is a global issue, it's not an African issue, everywhere you go there are corruption problems. So Africa's corruption problems need global solutions," Nnadozie said.

"The challenge many African countries face is they do not have the capacity to deal with corruption challenges, as they often face multinational firms who have far more capacity to evade taxes or engage in other corrupt practices," he added.

Many African countries have been ranked at the bottom, according to the Corruption Perceptions Index 2017, published by the United Nations.

The 30th AU summit, which is underway, is being held between January 22 to January 29.

Every AU summit is being held with a theme in the interest of global affairs.

The theme of this year's summit is- "Winning the Fight against Corruption: A Sustainable Path to Africa's Transformation."

The AU was established in 2001, consisting of all 55 countries in Africa as the members. The AU's secretariat is based in Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia. The AU summits are held twice in a year. (ANI)

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