Inequity, Not Economics

Nana Addo Slams Punitive Interest Rates for African Borrowers

Former President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo delivered a powerful and urgent message to the global community, asserting that Africa’s escalating debt burden—now exceeding $1 trillion —is not merely an economic issue but a “moral indictment”.

Speaking at the AU-EU High Level Seminar on the eve of the AU-EU summit on Thursday, October 2, 2025, in Brussels, Belgium, the former President delivered a scathing critique of the global financial system, declaring the sobering truth that it is “not built to free us. It is built to bind us”. He called on leaders to summon the courage to reform a system that forces nations to keep choosing between “paying their creditors and protecting their citizens”.

The Scale of Injustice: Interest Over Health
The speech starkly outlined the human cost of the debt crisis:
• Debt Servicing over Public Health: Research indicates that more than thirty African countries are now spending more on interest payments alone than on public health.
• The Diversion of Resources: Akufo-Addo stated that every dollar diverted to creditors is a dollar “taken from a hospital, from a child’s vaccination, from a community’s future”.
• Punitive Terms: He slammed the inequity where interest rates for African borrowers are often “double or triple those faced by wealthier nations”, turning loans into “shackles rather than lifelines”. This, he concluded, is “inequity, not economics”.

Debt Relief as an “Act of Justice” and Climate Reparation
The former President renewed his long-standing call for African debt cancellation, asserting that “justice delayed is justice denied”. He introduced a critical new framework, arguing that debt relief is not an act of generosity, but an “act of justice”. He proposed a program of ‘Debt Relief for Green Investment and Resilience’, which would directly link debt cancellation to investments in climate adaptation and sustainable growth. He noted that much of the debt the continent carries was incurred in responding to climate shocks “not of our making”, linking relief to the moral duty of reparation for climate damages affirmed by the International Court of Justice.

Flawed Framework and the Call for a Global Compact
Reflecting on Ghana’s experience with the G20 Common Framework in 2023, Akufo-Addo noted that while it offered some relief—including restructuring about $13 billion in Eurobonds—the process was complex and exposed “deep structural weaknesses of the global financial system”. He called the framework “fundamentally flawed” because it lacks binding rules to hold all creditors—public and private—to fair burden-sharing. To European partners who command four seats at the G20 table, the former President entreated them to support South Africa’s G20 Presidency to advance ambitious reform. He called for:
• Immediate debt service suspension.
• Comprehensive restructuring.
• A shift from the current process to a binding global compact that compels all creditors to participate.

In closing, Akufo-Addo urged action now, emphasising that relieving Africa’s debt is a
strategic choice for global stability and shared growth.
“When Africa rises free from the weight of debt, the whole world rises with it”.