Africa risks becoming an “unintended casualty” of global inflation, rising interest rates and geopolitical shocks – highlighting the urgency of redesigning global financial architecture to ensure Africa can withstand external shocks and mobilise the resources it needs to drive growth.
In fact, the IMF estimates that 21 low-income African countries are either in or at high risk of debt distress. The continent faces huge debt burdens; external debt increased to US$650bn in 2025 with an annual debt service burden of about US$90billion, severely crowding out critical spending on infrastructure, education and health.
This came to light at the AfCoDD V, a three-day event, held under the theme ‘Africa’s Debt Crisis: A Reparations and Reparative Justice Framework Analysis’.
Organised by the African Forum and Network on Debt and Development (AFRODAD) in partnership with International Development Economics Associates (IDEAs) and the Stop the Bleeding Campaign, Chairperson of AFRODAD’s Board of Trustees Barbara Kalima-Phiri said historical injustices have left structural and systemic inequities across Africa.
“Africa’s wealth and labour have long been extracted to benefit others, beginning with the trans-Atlantic slave trade, colonial exploitation and apartheid and persisting through today’s unequal global systems – leaving structural legacies that continue to limit the continent’s full freedom and sovereignty.
“The call for reparations is not just about compensation, it’s about the truth,” she added.
The African Union this year held its first-ever Pan-African Conference on Debt, producing the Lomé Declaration – a comprehensive agenda to reform the global debt architecture.
Finance Minister Dr. Cassiel Ato Forson has reiterated the urgent need for a more equitable global response to Africa’s mounting debt crisis, which has now surpassed US$1.3trillion. He made this statement after receiving a petition from the African Regional Organisation of the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC-Africa) in partnership with the Trade Union Congress (TUC) of Ghana.
The petition submitted by ITUC-Africa and TUC Ghana calls for a total cancellation of Africa’s external debt, arguing that the continent’s huge repayments are undermining social investments, job creation and poverty reduction efforts.
The call for debt relief has been growing louder across the continent, with unions, civil society and policymakers arguing that without decisive action Africa risks being trapped in a cycle of unsustainable borrowing and austerity.
thebftonline.com
