Tax avoidance by multinational companies is “crippling” poorer countries’ economies, and stopping it would help sustainable development significantly, the UN said Monday.

Mukisha Kituyi, who’s the head of UN agency UNCTAD, said that the practice cost around US$ 100 billion in 2014; that’s twice as much as Africa received in foreign investment.

The issue is up for discussion at a UN conference being held next month in Nairobi whose aim is to find funding for long-term development between now and 2030.

This task is being made all the harder by an uninspiring global economic outlook that’s characterised by stagnant business investment known as FDI, as Mr Kituyi explained to Daniel Johnson.

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