By Etienne Mainimo Mengnjo
Finance and economic experts from Africa have urged African leaders to match their unity rhetoric with concrete actions and intensify efforts towards regional integration. They believe that these measures are crucial for the continent’s agency and success in advocating for debt reforms and a complete overhaul of the global financial architecture.
This call was made on February 16 during a media briefing held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The briefing brought together notable figures such as Jason Braganza, Executive Director of the African Forum and Network on Debt and Development (AFRODAD); Mavis Owusu-Gyamfi, Vice President of the African Center for Economic Transformation (ACET); Hannah Ryder, CEO of Development Reimagined; and Dr. Patrick Ndzana Olomo, Acting Head of the Economic Policy and Research Division at the Department of Economic Affairs of the African Union Commission.
The media briefing served as a precursor to the upcoming African Union (AU) Summit, where African Heads of States will convene over the weekend.
During the briefing, moderated by Joab Okanda, Senior Advocacy Advisor at Christian Aid, Jason Braganza expressed his regret over the fact that Africa predominantly exports raw commodities and imports finished goods. This structural imbalance perpetuates liquidity shortages and necessitates the need for loans.
“The Continent is largely an exporter of raw commodities and importer of finished goods, and this means we will always be in a liquidity crunch and cash shortfall. This necessitates having to go for loans,” he said.
Braganza emphasized that Africa must adopt a coherent and coordinated approach that highlights the continent’s value in global trade and positions it as a net creditor to the world.
Mavis Owusu-Gyamfi on his part called for a global financial architecture that is responsive to Africa’s current realities and complex challenges. He argued that the current international financial systems were established 80 years ago when most African countries were still under colonial rule, which hindered their industrialization efforts.
“The international financial systems were set up 80 years ago when most African countries were colonised, and the system locked them out of industrialization. Given what Africa has given to the world as a provider of natural resource capital, it is not too much to ask for an increase and a fair share of allocations through public goods such as the International Development Assistance (IDA) and the Special Drawing Rights (SDRs).”
Hannah Ryder emphasized that Africa still heavily relies on support from the rest of the world. “While a lot is being done domestically and new lenders such as China and private sector actors have brought in resources, we have to go back to the 1980s when African governments realised that their aspirations such as infrastructure building would not be met by domestic resources only.”
She cited studies across 13 African countries, conducted by Development Reimagined, which indicated that to achieve the aspirations of Agenda 2063 and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), these countries would require between USD 100-150 billion annually. However, if they were to rely solely on external finance under the current system, they would quickly exceed their debt sustainability thresholds, as many countries already have. Ryder argued that a comprehensive overhaul of the global financial architecture, initially designed to serve major powers, is necessary to address the needs of Africa and other developing countries.
Dr. Patrick Ndzana Olomo reiterated the importance of Africa’s admission to the G20, as it presents an opportunity to establish comprehensive frameworks within the G20 to combat illicit financial flows, which cause the continent to lose USD 90 billion annually. He emphasized the significance of Africa’s participation in G20 discussions to address strategic issues that serve the interests of the continent.
Nevertheless, these experts stressed the need for African leaders to take decisive actions towards regional integration, debt reform, and a restructuring of the global financial architecture to ensure Africa’s economic empowerment and development.
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