Dr. Sandra C. Duru’s Voice of Nature | As a global community, we need to address problems of illicit financial flows, money laundering and corruption, which are hemorrhaging resources needed to implement SDGs.

Many wonder why many developing countries are still very poor yet have enough resources that can fix their problems and make their citizens have good lives, adequate security, and other infrastructural developments. Many wonder what exactly is this illicit financial flow and the impact on global communities.

Illicit financial flows, in economics, are a form of illegal capital flight that occurs when money is illegally earned, transferred, or spent. Money that is illegally earned, transferred, or utilized from developing countries has a corrosive impact on the economic growth, progress, and poverty alleviation efforts of the developing countries affected and the recent estimates suggest that developing countries lose about 1 trillion US dollars each year due to illicit financial flows.

Many wonder what these funds are used for and how they are moved and those who illegally participate in bad leadership activities.