Expert Group Meeting on Financing for Development~Illicit Financial Flows in the Arab Region (8&9 May 2017)Illicit Financial Flows (IFFs) constitute major disablers to sustainable development. As such, the Addis Ababa Action Agenda entailed a premeditated commitment to eliminate these flows by 2030. Commitment to combat IFFs was further captured by the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG-16). The United Nations Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) on its part recognized that IFFs constitute an impediment to domestic resource mobilization. IFFs continue to undermine the rule of law; challenge effective tax administration and revenue collection (e.g.: tax evasion.); distort trade figures and the gains from multilateral and preferential trade (e.g.: trade misinvoicing); worsen macroeconomic and security conditions (terrorist or conflict financing).
