Sub Saharan Africa Companies Losing Billions to Financial Crimes

Companies in the Sub Saharan Africa could be losing billions of US dollars to financial crimes according to a survey by the Thomson Reuters.
The survey that was done worldwide estimate a global estimate of lost turnover (the amount of money taken by a business in a particular period) as a consequence of financial crime at 3.5 %, which is estimated at US$1.45 trillion.
Reuters analyzed 253 listed companies in Sub-Saharan Africa with a total turnover of US$341 billion and estimated that the business loss to financial crimes amounted to US$10 billion.
The survey on financial crime included bribery and corruption; money laundering; fraud; theft; cyber crime; and slave labor/human trafficking.
Thomson Reuters survey report on Sub-Saharan Africa says that in the 12 months preceding the survey, the percentage of turnover lost lost to bribery and corruption was an average of 3,6% in Sub-Saharan Africa, compared to 3.2% across the globe.
“In the 12 months preceding the survey, the percentage of turnover lost to bribery and corruption was an average of 3.6% in Sub-Saharan Africa, compared to 3.2% across the globe,” says the Thomson Reuters report.
“60% within the region believe that the consequence of this bribery and corruption will be higher prices for end users.”
97% of respondents consider bribery and corruption to be an important issue for their companies to prevent around their global operations according to the report.
The African continent has been losing  $148 billion a year to corruption one of the financial crimes included in the Thomson Reuters survey.
Zimbabwe as a country loses US$ 1 billion to corruption.