Multinational companies accused of promoting capital flight from Africa

ADDIS-ABABA, Jan. 27 (Xinhua) -- At a time when a number of studies have shown that there is a lot of money that is generated by African countries which at the same time turn to the foreign sources to fund their development projects, sources at the African Union (AU) have accused the multinational companies for promoting capital flight from the continent.

"Over 80 percent of the illegal capital flight from Africa is done by the multinational companies that do not pay their taxes," said Ibrahim Mayaki, an official of the New Partnership for African Development (NEPAD).

He was speaking to Xinhua in Addis Ababa after a meeting of AU presidents to review the NEPAD mechanism on Saturday in the Ethiopian capital.

According to certain studies, Africa loses over 160 billion U.S. dollars through the phenomenon of capital flight.

Mayaki noted that such funds were necessary to fund innumerable development projects on the continent where much more needs to be done.

He called for mobilization of internal resources to implement the NEPAD initiatives.

At the same time, the AU official said that since the independence of most of the African countries in 1960, "90 percent of the funding for infrastructure projects on the continent has come from African public funds."