Custodian agencies of SDG indicator 16.4.1, “Total value of inward and outward illicit financial flows (IFFs), in current United States dollars”, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) and United Nations Office for Drugs and Crime (UNODC), released a Conceptual Framework for the Statistical Measurement of Illicit Financial Flows in October 2020. In May 2021, UNCTAD finalized a draft of Methodological Guidelines to Measure Tax and Commercial IFFs for pilot testing, aimed at statistical and other national authorities with a mandate to collect and access relevant information. UNODC are finalising the Guidelines to measure IFFs from extractive activities and illegal drugs markets.

After a call for expression of interest in Africa in February 2021, the following countries participate in pilot testing of the measurement of IFFs: Angola, Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Gabon, Ghana, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, Senegal, and South Africa.

A kick-off workshop with national experts and stakeholders from institutions and agencies in African pilot countries is being organized to present and discuss implementation of activities related to the measurement of IFFs in Africa; introduce the participants to the concepts and definition of IFFs as included in the UNCTAD-UNODC Conceptual framework for the statistical measurement of IFF; and present the methodologies and guidelines developed so far by UNCTAD and UNODC. The expected outcome of the meeting is to get a clear understanding of country needs, data gaps and steps needed to pilot the new IFFs methodology.