A Scoping Study of Illicit Financial Flows Impacting Uganda

Insufficient levels of financial transparency—globally and domestically—and government accountability in Uganda, coupled with a regulatory system that can incentivize financial crimes, are helping to drive high levels of illicit financial inflow and outflows in the country, which are undermining development efforts. Illicit financial flows (IFFs) in Uganda are part of a broader political economy dynamic where continued economic growth and development are hampered by corruption, impunity, and an opaque extractive sector. The growth in Uganda’s economy and its role as a haven for legal and illegal activities stemming from neighboring countries like South Sudan, create perverse opportunities for illicit financial flows. The central government has a decent capacity to combat these opportunities for IFFs on paper, but its willingness or capacity to act to curtail IFFs is lagging.