{"id":16686,"date":"2025-02-28T11:45:21","date_gmt":"2025-02-28T09:45:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/jhb-webdevelopers\/channelafrica\/special-project\/former-african-leaders-demand-urgent-debt-relief-at-g20\/"},"modified":"2026-02-27T14:47:21","modified_gmt":"2026-02-27T12:47:21","slug":"former-african-leaders-demand-urgent-debt-relief-at-g20","status":"publish","type":"special-project","link":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/special-project\/former-african-leaders-demand-urgent-debt-relief-at-g20\/","title":{"rendered":"Former African leaders demand urgent debt relief at G20"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
Eight former African heads of state and government have signed the Cape Town Declaration, calling for urgent debt relief for nations burdened by crippling debt and reduced borrowing costs for all developing countries.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
\n

The initiative, unveiled during the G20 Finance Ministers\u2019 meeting in Cape Town, South Africa, seeks to address the growing financial crisis facing the continent.<\/p>\n

The declaration aligns with the African Union\u2019s Agenda 2063, reflecting the continent\u2019s long-term economic goals. Dr Sizo Nkala, Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Centre for Africa-China Studies, University of Johannesburg, explained that Africa is facing a debt crisis comparable to the one in the early 2000s. He said, \u201cWe are seeing a repeat of the debt crisis that plagued Africa in the early 2000s. With 21 countries now in debt distress and an external debt surpassing $685 billion, the situation is dire. This year alone, African nations are set to pay $88 billion in debt service, this is unsustainable.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nkala stressed the importance of establishing African-led financial institutions, praising recent efforts towards creating an African Credit Rating Agency. \u201cIf we can set up an African Credit Rating Agency, it will provide an unbiased assessment of our nations\u2019 creditworthiness. This would help reduce expensive borrowing costs and offer more affordable financing options for African countries,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Strengthening national debt management and boosting domestic resource mobilisation were also identified as crucial steps to ease the debt burden. \u201cAfrican countries need to improve debt management at the national level, and there must be stronger efforts to mobilise domestic resources. Relying on international financiers and private creditors with dollar-denominated debts has proven problematic,\u201d Nkala added.<\/p>\n

The Cape Town Declaration is seen as a vital move towards addressing Africa\u2019s debt challenges and pushing for reforms in the global financial system.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

–ChannelAfrica–<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":15019,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false},"featured-post":[],"class_list":["post-16686","special-project","type-special-project","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","entry"],"acf":{"short_description":"The declaration aligns with the African Union\u2019s Agenda 2063.","count_down_image":null},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/special-project\/16686","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/special-project"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/special-project"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15019"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16686"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"featured-post","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/featured-post?post=16686"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}