Africa loses more than R50-billion every year as a result of the illicit flow of funds, former president Thabo Mbeki has said.

"Africa faces the great challenge of large volumes of capital leaving the continent illicitly - money that our continent needs to address the challenges of development," Mbeki told a meeting of the Group of African Governors, affiliated with the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, known as the African Caucus.

This was according to a statement from the caucus.

"We, as Africans, have an absolute obligation to act on this to ensure that the rest of the world . . . by acting together, will help stop this drain of resources..."

Mbeki is the head of the high-level panel on illicit financial flows from Africa created by the UN economic commission for Africa and the African Union.

He said it was possible to put an end to the problem with proper monitoring of the transactions of large commercial companies.

Interventions were needed from institutions such as tax authorities, customs, central banks, financial intelligence units for combating money laundering, audit and anti-corruption authorities and the police, he said.

News24.com