The tax haven “deal” that was agreed at last week’s G8 summit in Northern Ireland may not benefit African countries, according to aid agencies and a group of high level African former leaders led by Thabo Mbeki.

Mr Mbeki, who chaired the high level group on the topic last week said that African countries are losing around $50 billion a year in irregular financial flows, mainly tax havens — a figure higher than what they received in official aid.

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According to the June 18 deal, new rules will be put in place to disclose the real owners of companies, as they have been hiding their identities in order to enjoy tax havens.

Leaders of the G8 major economies also agreed on new measures to clamp down on money launderers, tax evaders and corporate tax evaders. Governments agreed to give each other automatic access to information on their residents’ tax statuses.

They will also require shell companies — often used to exploit tax loopholes and invest money anonymously — to identify their effective owners.

The measures are designed to combat tax evasion as well as legal tax avoidance by large corporations that make use of loopholes and tax havens.

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But the deal fell short of what campaigners had demanded by not committing countries to making information public, only sharing that information with other tax authorities.

Mr Mbeki and his group expressed their concern that the deal does not appear to enable African nations to know what information to request with regard to international firms which operate in their country, particularly those about whom concerns have been expressed over the stripping out of vital natural and mineral resources.

To enable African countries to do this, aid agencies argue, there should have been public registers of the companies concerned, not just a sharing of information between tax authorities.

The UK-based aid agency War on Want’s tax campaigner Murray Worthy said: “If all of these promises become reality this could have an enormous impact on tackling one of the greatest scandals of our time. But there is a long way to go and today all we have is a general statement of principles with no detail and no deadlines.”

He added: “As always, the devil will be in the detail, and there’s no detail here. Talk of stopping companies shifting profits to avoid taxes is a huge step forwards, but we’ve heard great promises from the world’s heads of state before — it’s what they do that counts.”

Tanzania is among the worst affected countries and is estimated to be losing up to $1.1 billion or five per cent of its potential GDP because of tax exemptions to entice businesses into the country.

This reiterates a 2012 sentiment by lobbyists Tax Justice Network-Africa and the campaign group ActionAid that East African countries were losing $2.8 billion in revenues a year to exemptions, with Tanzania consistently giving away the highest amount.

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But Alvin Mosioma, the director of Tax Justice Network-Africa, who is pushing for the removal of tax exemptions for Tanzania’s gold mining sector says waivers do not necessarily attract investors.

“When you look at the top 10 reasons given by investors as enabling factors you find they mention things like rule of law, human resources capacity and infrastructure, issues that are more influential and significant than just tax incentives,” said Mr Mosioma.

Zitto Kabwe, who chairs Tanzania’s Parliamentary Public Accounts Committee and is shadow finance minister, said the main problem is that the exemptions, which amount to a tenth of the government’s annual budget, are often opaque. It is unclear who is receiving them and how much they are worth.

Now the Tanzanian government plans to reduce the tax incentives it offers to companies. But the country finds itself in a dilemma facing other governments in East Africa as well, as their economies develop, with critics arguing that global organisations are sending mixed messages on the subject.

On the one hand the IMF is urging Tanzania to reduce its tax exemptions, while on the other, the World Bank’s annual global ranking of business environments rewards countries that offer such incentives.

The International Monetary Fund estimates that Tanzania’s tax revenues, 15 per cent of GDP, are 5 percentage points below its potential.

Speaking at the G8 Summit, African Development Bank president Donald Kaberuka said it was laudable that the G8 was putting emphasis on the issues around resource mobilisation through greater transparency on taxation issues in Africa’s natural resources.

Citing a larger internal governance agenda in the sector of natural resources, he called on the international community to do its part, to ensure balanced contracts, minimise tax avoidance and evasions, and bring light and transparency in the natural resource sector, which is often very opaque.

Mr Kaberuka said this was the only way African countries will find the financial resources they need to fund infrastructure and trade corridors, which are now very dependent on donor funding.

He said that the African Development Bank was fully behind this agenda and had put in place the Africa Legal Support Facility four years ago which has been instrumental in assisting a number of countries to negotiate complex contracts and unbundle others with the aim of ensuring that they (countries) get what they deserve, investors get the return they look for and everyone is a winner.