Implications of Illicit Financial Flows on Zimbabwe's Development
Illicit Financial Flows (IFFs) is a major challenge to Zimbabwe's development. They have a direct impact on the country’s stability to raise, retain and mobilize its own resources to finance sustainable economic development. The study finds that Zimbabwe lost over US$32.179 billion during the period 2000 to 2020. The study relies on normative and legal arguments to justify the effects of illicit financial flows. The problems with IFFs are that they are not only illicit but that their effect spreads far beyond their immediate area of occurrence. Zimbabwe has suffered irreparable damage because of illicit financial flows. IFFs are mainly driven by the desire to hide wealth and to evade taxes; perpetrators clearly do not respect the obligations of citizenship. Financial flows are crucial for poor countries and have played an important role in Zimbabwe. Since not all financial flows are good for development, the integration of poor countries into the global financial system poses opportunities as well as risks.