Illicit financial flows: Illicit narcotics transiting West Africa

Mark Shaw

No 64, OECD Development Co-operation Working Papers from OECD Publishing

Abstract: This paper explores the flow of illicit narcotics transiting West Africa. It is divided into four sections, providing an overview of the nature and scope of the illicit narcotic economy, the networks and actors involved and its development impacts, including its resulting illicit financial flows, the movement and impact of those financial flows, both to buy protection and to invest drug profits from West Africa, and finally, it provides concluding remarks that could inform future policy action. The paper is based on a review of the available secondary literature and interviews, and focuses on the cocaine trade due to the preponderance of available information and data compared to other types of drug trafficking. Comparisons or distinctions are also drawn between other illicit narcotics and emerging trends are highlighted where credible evidence is available.

Keywords: cocaine trafficking; corruption; criminal markets; development; illicit financial flows (IFFs); illicit narcotics; illicit trade; informal economy; political instability; protection payments; West Africa (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: F63 K42 O17 O55 Q01 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019-12-03
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-afr, nep-law and nep-ore
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:oec:dcdaaa:64-en

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