Africa starving as capital flies

[dArKeR]

Sub-Saharan Africa's appalling poverty and living conditions have been exposed repeatedly through television and the Internet. But these agonizing pictures represent only the symptoms of an underlying -- and largely unreported -- malady: capital flight.
Capital flight stems from myriad causes: debt servicing, the awarding to foreign firms of almost all contracts financed by multilateral lenders (and exemptions from taxes and duties on these goods and services), unfavorable terms of trade, speculation, free transfer of benefits, foreign exchange reserves held in foreign accounts, and domestic private capital funneled abroad. According to the UN Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), every dollar that flows into the region generates an outflow of US$1.06.

http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/edit/archives/2004/12/03/2003213589