Former President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has called for a sweeping global debt relief initiative for Africa, warning that the continent’s economic stability, climate resilience, and future development depend on urgent reforms to the international financial system.
Speaking at the AU–EU High-Level Seminar in Brussels, on the eve of the 25th anniversary summit of the AU–EU partnership, Akufo-Addo said Africa’s debt crisis had reached “staggering levels,” with external debt surpassing $1 trillion in 2025, more than double its level five years ago.
“The sobering truth is that the global financial system is not built to free us. It is built to bind us,” Akufo-Addo told a packed audience of African and European policymakers. “Debt relief is not an act of generosity. It is an act of justice.”
According to UNCTAD, developing countries paid nearly $487 billion in external public debt servicing in 2023, with many African states now spending more on interest payments alone than on health. Akufo-Addo described this as a “moral indictment,” arguing that every dollar paid to creditors is “a dollar taken from a hospital, from a child’s vaccination, from a community’s future.”
Calls for systemic reform
Drawing on Ghana’s experience with the G20 Common Framework, under which his administration restructured $13 billion in Eurobonds and secured $10.5 billion in debt service relief, Akufo-Addo said the process was riddled with delays and lacked fair burden-sharing.
“The Framework offers reprieve, not resolution,” he said. “It lacks binding rules to hold all creditors to fair burden-sharing and fails to address the structural roots of debt accumulation.”
He urged Europe to use its influence within the G20—where Germany, France, Italy and the EU together hold four seats—to back Africa’s demand for reforms and support a comprehensive global debt relief initiative this year.
Linking debt to climate justice
Akufo-Addo argued that Africa’s debt crisis is inseparable from climate vulnerability, as countries face higher borrowing costs because of a “climate risk premium.” He called for a ‘Debt Relief for Green Investment and Resilience’ programme that would link cancellation directly to investments in climate adaptation and sustainable growth.
“Africa contributes less than 4 percent of global emissions, yet we suffer the brunt of climate change,” he said. “By even the most conservative estimates, reparations for climate damages run into the trillions. Seen in that light, debt relief is not generosity—it is justice.”
The case for urgency
Akufo-Addo, who recently co-launched the African Leaders’ Debt Relief Initiative with other former heads of state, praised South African President Cyril Ramaphosa for publicly endorsing the push and noted that the upcoming G20 summit in Johannesburg offered a chance for concrete progress.
“The benefits of debt relief are enormous and life-changing,” he said. “It strengthens economic stability, reduces poverty, builds resilient health systems, enhances peace and security, and strengthens the fight against climate change.”
He closed with a call for moral leadership from Europe and Africa alike: “When Africa rises free from the weight of debt, the whole world rises with it.”
Source: asaasersdio.com
