Although Zimbabwe was experiencing its worst decade between 2000 and 2009 with its economy shrinking by 40 percent, the country lost US$4 billion during that period through illicit flows according to a report just released by Global Financial Integrity.
The report says developing countries lost US$7.2 trillion through illicit flows during that decade with China topping the list. It lost nearly US$2.5 trillion.
Most of the losses were through trade mispricing which includes under-invoicing.
Developing countries lost between US$775 billion and US$903 billion in 2009 alone but this was a drastic improvement from the previous year where they had lost more than US$1 trillion.
But Zimbabwe was better off than its neighbours. South Africa lost a staggering US$59.4 billion, Angola US$16.7 billion and BotswanaUS$7 billion.
Nigeria topped the list among African countries with a cumulative loss of US$158.3 billion.
(44 VIEWS)
