African Development Bank Reports: Africa Loses $148 Billion Annually Due to Corruption

Akinwumi Adesina, the President, African Development Bank (AfDB), says Africa loses about $148 billion annually due to corruption.

Adesina, who spoke in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Sunday in Abuja, said corruption poses a great challenge to development in Africa.

He, however, said that corruption was not unique to Africa, but a global problem.

“Africa loses about $148 billion  a year because of corruption; Africa also loses 60 billion U.S. dollars a year because of illegal capital flow. This is money that should be going into education, health, water and sanitation sectors; wherever you have massive corruption, development takes a back seat and slow things down.

Transparency is the key; detecting corruption is important, but preventing corruption is also important, therefore it is in the interest of Africa to prevent corruption in order to boost economy and development across the continent,’’ he said.

Photo Credit: TVC News