EU multinationals scamming Africa out of billions, Tanzanian MP says

Tax avoidance loopholes for EU-based multinationals introduced by the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) are said to be costing African countries double the amount they receive in foreign aid.

Zitto Kabwe, a Tanzanian MP, said EU and other Western multinationals, including a Tanzanian state owned company, use tax havens and other illicit schemes to scam the countries of the continent out of around $50 billion every year.

The EU, for its part, has proposed reforms on accountancy and transparency directives.

The reforms, backed by the European Parliament in June, would require companies in the extractive and logging sector to publish an annual report disclosing the details of tax, bonuses and other payments made to governments for every project they operate over a $100,000 threshold.

A report out on the 16 December 2013 by the Brussels-based development NGO Eurodad, says developing countries lose out between €660 and €870 billion each year mainly in the form of tax evasion by multinational corporations.

• Primary Source

ESO: Background information: Oil, gas, mineral and logging firms obliged to disclose payments to governments http://www.europeansources.info/record/oil-gas-mineral-and-logging-firms-obliged-to-disclose-payments-to-governments/

EUObserver, 16.12.13: EU firms' tax dodging costs poor countries billions http://euobserver.com/social/122484

Eurodad: Report, 16.12.13: Taking with one hand and giving with the other - Europe's role in tax-related capital flight from developing countries http://www.eurodad.org/files/pdf/52aebfed659f4.pdf

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