African ministers of Finance, Planning and Economic Development have called for decisive action to reform the global debt architecture to enable the investments needed for achieving sustainable development and climate goals around the world.
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The call was made at a meeting of the High-level Working Group on the Global Financial Architecture on the margins of Economic Commission for Africa’s (ECA) 55th Conference of African Ministers of Finance, Planning, and Economic Development in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Coordinated by the ECA, the Group comprises African Ministers of Finance, Planning and Economic Development, the African Union, the African Development Bank (AfDB), Afreximbank and the World Bank, and includes the participation of IMF staff and Executive Directors. Hanan Morsy, ECA’s Deputy Executive Secretary and Chief Economist, noted that 2023 presents a critical moment to progress reform efforts advocated by the Group. Many of the Group’s ideas align with the UN Secretary-General’s proposals for international financial architecture reform, which form part of his call for an SDG stimulus of at least $500 billion per year to achieve Agenda 2030.
The Group emphasised that the Global Sovereign Debt Round- table, a joint initiative by the Indian G20 presidency, the IMF and the World Bank, the Summit for a New Global Financial Pact in June, as well as the Climate Action Summit, the Climate Ambition Summit and the SDG Summit to be held in September, are important opportunities to advance the global financial architecture reform agenda.
The ministers also expressed their hope that Africa, represented by the African Union, would finally obtain a permanent seat in the G20, thereby further strengthening Africa’s voice on the global stage. Furthermore, they voiced concerns over rising debt vulnerabilities in Africa, as eight African countries face debt distress and 13 are at high risk of debt dis- tress per the IMF-World Bank’s Debt Sustainability Analysis.
They acknowledged that the G20 Common Framework, designed to address today’s more diverse creditor profiles, has not effectively supported nations in debt distress. They urged the G20 to urgently overhaul the Common Frame- work to make it more effective, time-bound, and transparent while providing debt service standstill for applicants.
Key proposals put forward at the meeting include, forming Expanded Creditor Committees with private sector creditors to smooth coordination challenges, establishing a ‘Comparability of Treatment’ formula to minimize technical disputes, and bolder use of the IMF’s Lending into Arrears Policies to reduce the leverage of hold- out creditors. The Ministers also called for reviewing and updating the IMF-World Bank Debt Sustainability Analysis to make it more SDG- and solvency-focused. They also stressed the need to fortify the international debt legal framework through enhanced collective action and force majeure clauses, anti-vulture fund legislation, and state-contingent debt instruments.
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