According to UNCTAD’s Economic Development in Africa Report 2020, Africa loses roughly USD 90 billion every year to illicit financial flows. That works out to almost USD 60 per person living on the continent. Resources that could otherwise fund healthcare, education, infrastructure and economic growth instead disappear through structures designed specifically to avoid detection.
One of the most effective tools available to address this is beneficial ownership transparency. By identifying the real individuals who ultimately own or control companies and assets, anonymity is reduced, accountability is strengthened and it becomes harder to hide illicit wealth behind layers of corporate structure.
Several African states have already started building this infrastructure. Registers are being established. Disclosure requirements are being legislated. The architecture of transparency is taking shape.
The question is whether enforcement keeps pace with legislation.
A register that collects declarations without verifying them is not transparency. It is paperwork. Responsibility for closing that gap cuts both ways. Governments must enforce disclosure and actively verify what is submitted, not simply collect it. The corporate world, including the banks, lawyers and accountants who structure these entities, must stop treating opacity as a service offering and start treating transparency as the standard their clients should expect.
Africa cannot afford to keep losing what it needs most.
Posted by PML Africa on 24 June 2026
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