Zambia risks a deepening fiscal crisis unless it tackles an estimated USD 3.5 billion in illicit financial flows (IFFs) uncovered in 2024, the Centre for Trade Policy and Development (CTPD) has warned. According to the 2024 Financial Intelligence Centre (FIC) trend report, large-scale tax evasion, trade misinvoicing and illegal mining accounted for the vast majority of these outflows.
The scale of the problem is stark: at over ZMW 91 billion, the estimated IFFs represent nearly 42 percent of Zambia’s 2025 National Budget, and far outstripped the combined ZMW 73.9 billion allocation for critical sectors including Education, Health, Social Protection, Housing and Community Amenities. “These leakages deprive our country of resources desperately needed to fund free education, essential medicines and social services,” said the CTPD in its statement.
CTPD has urged the government to launch a suite of urgent reforms to stem the tide of illicit outflows and bolster domestic revenue mobilization:
Strengthen law enforcement agencies. Reform bodies such as the Anti-Corruption Commission and Drug Enforcement Commission to improve responsiveness and effectiveness in prosecuting financial crimes.
Enhance corporate transparency. Fast-track amendments to the Companies Act to require full disclosure of beneficial ownership and dismantle shell companies.
Bolster tax and customs intelligence. Focus resources on high-risk sectors—particularly mining and wholesale trade—to detect and deter misinvoicing schemes.
Implement a unified registry. Accelerate roll-out of the Integrated National Registration Information System (INRIS) to prevent identity-based fraud.
Ring-fence recovered funds. Ensure that assets and tax assessments recovered through FIC investigations—such as the recent ZMW 28.9 billion assessment—are dedicated to health, education and social protection.
“Without decisive action, Zambia will struggle to meet its development goals,” CTPD warned. The think tank called on policymakers to treat IFFs as a national emergency akin to any other leak in the public purse.
Founded as a non-profit, membership-based organization, CTPD advocates for pro-poor trade and investment reforms at national, regional and multilateral levels. It works to ensure that trade policy contributes to poverty eradication and sustainable development across Zambia.
Finally what I thought personally was happening is being brought to light. The country looks like there’s has never been any minerals, and population before 2000 was still very low. Even today but living way the poverty lines is kind of the order of the day. Stolen wealth through evasion.
Instead of constitution amendments, why don’t you do Immigration reforms so that we know who’s in the country and who’s coming. There are so illegals from within African and overseas conducting illegal businesses which accommodates illicitly transactions and so forth. Learn from South Africa how they control money coming in form unknown sources or questionable ones.
Comment:Lekeni abantu baleepepa pantu tamulefwaya ukucita develop zambia twacula pafula.
Is this caused by a cash society or lack of crime intelligence? We have a large portion of our police force chasing political opponents, an ACC that is scared of crime suspects if they are in the ruling party, an ACC and DEC waiting for operating instructions from State House
The problem with such reports is they like inflating figures to justify their existence. Even where a transaction is done by a huge construction company or mining company to transfer profits which are in billions to their respective shareholders abroad to FIC they will add it in their report just to make the figure look big but after law enforcement agencies and ZRA go through the books they find everything in order and it dies a natural death. From all those billions that FIC has been talking about over the years how much has been recovered? Not more than 10% because after investigations the other 90% is proved to be legitimate business transactions.