African leaders sign debt relief declaration at G20 meeting

Eight former African heads of state have thrown their weight behind a call for government leaders attending the G20 summit to support a comprehensive plan to rescue African states from crippling debt that is undermining their development, reports BusinessLIVE. On the sidelines of the G20 events in Cape Town last week, eight former heads of state – Olusegun Obasanjo (Nigeria), Macky Sall (Senegal), Joyce Banda (Malawi), Jakaya Mrisho Kikwete (Tanzania), Ameenah Gurib-Fakim (Mauritius), Hailemariam Desalegn (Ethiopia), Nana Akufo-Addo (Ghana) and Yemi Osinbajo (former vice-president: Nigeria) – came together to call for re-engineering of global debt markets to help Africa. Speaking at the launch, the former governor of the Bank of Kenya, Patrick Njoroge, said given the stature of the G20, African leaders were calling for member nations to consider adopting a framework in which the global community can address issues for all debtors at the same time. Obasanjo said the African leaders behind the initiative were concerned about the debt levels of countries on the continent, which is taking away money that could have gone to human development, education, health and nutrition. He said the debt seems ‘interminable’. The International Monetary Fund estimated that gross external financing needs for low-income countries in sub-Saharan Africa would exceed $70bn annually (6% of GDP) over the next four years. Gurib-Fakim said African nations were experiencing their worst debt crisis in 80 years, and bold steps were required to drive development in the emerging world. She said debt relief was a prominent part of that solution. The leaders signed the ‘Cape Town Declaration – a decisive call for urgent debt relief and fairer borrowing terms for African nations’, which called on G20 chairman President Cyril Ramaphosa ‘to give priority to ensuring debt stability for developing countries’.

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