THE President of the African Development Bank (AfDB), Dr. Akinwumi Adesina, has warned that Africa’s growing debt burden—now nearing $2 trillion—cannot be sustainably managed unless leaders take decisive steps to curb corruption and illicit financial flows draining over $580 billion from the continent each year.
Speaking in an interview with Bloomberg in Maputo, Mozambique, Adesina stressed that while concessional loans and debt restructuring remain necessary, halting the vast financial leakages is even more critical.
“Africa is losing huge sums through tax evasion, trade misinvoicing, smuggling, money laundering, and corruption,” he said.
“It doesn’t matter how much water you pour into a bucket if the bucket is leaking. Plugging these leakages will allow Africa to retain resources and finance its own infrastructure, education, healthcare, and job creation.”
According to AfDB data released in May, the continent loses around $1.6 billion every day through financial leakages.
This includes $90 billion annually in illicit flows, $275 billion in profits shifted abroad by multinational corporations, and $148 billion lost to corruption.
Adesina emphasized that addressing these outflows is essential, particularly as Africa faces an annual infrastructure financing gap of up to $170 billion—funding he said is vital to drive development and tackle unemployment across the continent.