No nation on the continent is immune to the scourge of financial opacity. Evaluated for the first time this year in the Financial Secrecy India, Morocco ranks 72nd. However, this is not a guarantee of transparency. India, which assesses the intensity with which a country's legal and financial system allows wealthy individuals and criminals to hide and launder money, weighs with the weight of each jurisdiction in this market.

Representing only 0.01% of the world's offshore services, Morocco is only a weak service provider for foreign capitau. On the other hand, if we consider only its degree of secrecy, it remains more opaque than the average country.

In a recent report examining this phenomenon in 30 countries on the continent, James Boyce and I demonstrated that African countries lost about $1.4 trillion between 1970 and 2015 (and $1.8 trillion if interest is included).

This is much more than the total debt of these countries in 2015 ($496.9 billion) and the cumulative amount of foreign aid received during this period ($991.8 billion). This means that Africa is a "net creditor" of the rest of the world and not a continent dependent on foreign aid and private investment, it is usually described.

The consequences are dramatic. These outbursts deprive governments of the resources needed to invest in public services, such as education, health care, childcare, clean water and sanitation.

Dramatic consequences

Morocco ranks 72nd if we take into account its (very small) weight in international finance, but it is more opaque than the world average, if we only take into account the structures intended to hide the "grey" silver flus. If we added up the British dependencies and Great Britain, the whole would be by far the most opaque in the world.

The financial haemorrhage exacerbates the inequality between the sees, as women are over-represented among the poor and among those in precarious or low-paid jobs.

In addition, governments compensate for the lack of resources caused by the flight of capital and tax evasion by resorting to regressive taes on consumption, such as the tae on value added (VAT), which weigh more heavily on the middle class and the poorest.

The succession of scandals such as the "Luanda Leaks" has sparked public outrage around the world, hopefully pushing governments to start confronting the industry of financial opacity that fosters illicit financial flus and tax evasion.

In fact, the 2020 edition of the ISF shows that, on average, countries have reduced their contribution to global financial secrecy by 7% compared to 2018.

At ICRICT, we believe it is time for Africa to start addressing the issue of financial transparency. Morocco, for example, should put an end to "bearer shares" – that is, securities on which the name of the beneficiary is not registered – and set up a beneficial ownership register to put a name on the real owners.

Multinationals with their headquarters or operations in the country should also report their profits on a country-by-country basis. These measures would be essential tools to combat financial opacity and tax evasion.

This work investigates the links between tax applications and the fight against the coronavirus. Downloadable free of charge on the website of the NGO, ICRICT

Financial transparency is a political emergency. By continuing to close the lockdowns on corruption and tax evasion and by persisting in responding to the lack of fiscal resources with austerity programs, governments are jeopardizing their legitimacy to the population, opening the door wide to the movement and the Brotherhood, with their procession of misery and violence.

The Angolan reference...

Demonstrations against and for the children of Dos Santos, the former president of Angola, in power for 40 years. Isabel, who headed the state-owned oil company (Sonangol) and her brother Filomeno dos Santos at the head of the Angolan Sovereign Wealth Fund, were sacked by the next president, Joao Lourenço and prosecuted for corruption. Value today, the investigations have remained without follow-up (Ph. Euronews 2017)

After the "Panama Papers", the "Paradise Papers" and the "Mauritius Leaks", the "Luanda Leaks" show this time how a close friend of e-President José Eduardo dos Santos – at the head of the country from 1979 to 2017 – is suspected, with her husband, for receiving billions of dollars from her father's government in Angola, through an empire of more than 400 companies in 41 countries, including Hong Kong and Mauritius.

A tangle of companies that would have allowed him to escape any control, to access many public work contracts, assets and loans from the State at the expense of Angolans.

It is no coincidence that the 2020 edition of the Financial Opacity Index (FSI), published this week, Ta Justice Network ranks Angola as the most opaque of the 17 African countries revised this year. It is also considered to have "strategic deficiencies" by the Groupe d'action financière (GAFI), an international reference body for anti-money laundering policy.

Small share and big degts

Of course, it is important to remember that the principality responsible for financial opacity at the global level are not African countries. Members of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD, which brings together the richest countries in the world) contribute 49% according to India FSI. They do so either directly or through jurisdictions that depend on eu, such as the United States Virgin Islands, Curaçao or the Cayman Islands. Developed countries thus demonstrate a remarkable hypocrisy: they perpetuate the worst forms of financial opacity through the tax havens that are part of their network, while putting in place stricter regulations within their borders, while preaching good governance to the developing country. But it is in Africa that the situation is most tragic. The flight of capitau from Africa by African elites and foreigners has undermined the continent's development for decades.