Former President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo yesterday critiqued the global financial order, describing Africa’s $1 trillion debt burden as not just an economic challenge, but a “moral indictment” against a system that continues to penalize the world’s poorest nations.
Speaking at the AU-EU High Level Seminar, on the eve of the African Union–European Union summit in Brussels, Akufo-Addo delivered an impassioned plea for global debt reform, climate reparation, and a new era of economic justice for Africa.
“The truth is sobering,” he declared, adding that “This system is not built to free us. It is built to bind us.”
In his speech, the former President painted a grim picture of the human cost of Africa’s debt crisis. More than 30 African countries now spend more on interest payments than on public health.
Every dollar diverted to creditors, he said, is a dollar “taken from a hospital, from a child’s vaccination, from a community’s future.”
He slammed the stark inequity in global lending, where African nations face interest rates two to three times higher than wealthier counterparts.
“These are not loans; they are shackles,” he said. “This is inequity, not economics.”
Akufo-Addo renewed his longstanding call for comprehensive debt cancellation, but this time with a bold reframing: debt relief as an act of justice, not generosity.
He unveiled a proposal for a new initiative titled “Debt Relief for Green Investment and Resilience”, linking debt cancellation directly to: climate adaptation, green infrastructure and sustainable development.
Citing the International Court of Justice’s support for climate-related reparations, Akufo-Addo argued that much of Africa’s debt is the result of responding to climate shocks “not of our making.”
Reflecting on Ghana’s debt restructuring under the G20 Common Framework in 2023—which included a $13 billion Eurobond restructuring, Akufo-Addo acknowledged modest progress, but condemned the framework as “fundamentally flawed.”
“It lacks binding rules. It allows some creditors to escape responsibility. That is not reform. That is retreat.”
Directly addressing European leaders, who control four seats at the G20 table, Akufo-Addo urged them to back South Africa’s G20 presidency and push for bold, structural reform.
He called for: immediate suspension of debt service, comprehensive restructuring, binding global compact that forces all creditors, public and, private, to participate fairly.
The former President emphasized that Africa’s liberation from debt is not just a regional need but a global opportunity. “When Africa rises free from the weight of debt, the whole world rises with it.”
His message resonated beyond the halls of diplomacy, serving as both a challenge and an invitation: to build a new global financial system that values fairness, sustainability, and shared growth over profit and punishment.
