Illicit Financial Flows, Public Debt, Public Financing, Public Services, and Gender Equality in Ghana

This study examines the relationship between illicit financial flows (IFFs), public debt, public financing, public service delivery, and gender equality in Ghana. Using secondary data, policy reports, and scholarly literature, it assesses how tax avoidance, corruption, and other illicit financial practices reduce domestic resource mobilisation, constrain fiscal space, and weaken investment in education, health, and social protection. The findings show that rising debt-servicing obligations undermine public finance, debt sustainability, and progress toward the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Women and girls bear disproportionate impacts through reduced access to quality public services and increased unpaid care responsibilities. The study recommends strengthening tax justice, financial transparency, revenue mobilisation, gender-responsive public finance, and debt management to promote inclusive development, improved governance, and sustainable economic growth in Ghana and Africa.