eBusiness Weekly
Enacy Mapakame
The third edition of African Conference on Debt and Development AfCoDD kicked off in Dakar – Senegal yesterday.
In a bid to address the intricate challenges that define Africa’s debt landscape, including Zimbabwe’s and its implications for development, the African Forum and Network on Debt and Development (AFRODAD) and Trust Africa in collaboration with partners, have converged in Dakar for the third edition of the African Conference on Debt and Development (AfCoDD III).
Themed “The 4Rs for Africa Rule-Maker: Reimagining, Rethinking, Reorganising, and Remobilising for an African World Order,” the gathering is slated to take place from August 30th to September 1st, 2023.
Building on the successes of its preceding editions, AfCoDD III emerges as a pivotal platform to foster dialogue around Africa’s intricate debt challenges and to chart a transformative path for economic advancement.
The conference’s overarching objective is to incubate innovative ideas and strategies that could potentially reshape Africa’s standing within the global financial architecture, steering the continent towards a future marked by sustainability and fairness.
One striking facet that the conference is set to scrutinise is the intertwined relationship between Africa’s debt burden and the well-being of its citizens. The continent’s populace is increasingly feeling the impact of both irresponsible borrowing and lending. Paradoxically, institutions like the International Monetary Fund (IMF) continue to extend loans, often categorised as “highly concessional,” to African Governments. A case in point is host country Senegal, where the national debt is projected to surge by a staggering $8,6 billion (+36,49 percent) between 2023 and 2028, with an estimated total of $32,17 billion in 2028.
Closer to home, Zimbabwe’s total debt stood at US$18 billion as at the end of 2022, according to the 2022 Annual Public Debt Bulletin released by the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development.
Saddled with such a debt burden, experts have highlighted that accessing funding for productive sectors becomes limited while funding for social service delivery is reduced as countries service debts.
AFRODAD executive director, Jason Braganza, articulates the core concern succinctly.
“In this conference we want to highlight that the global financial architecture is biased against countries that borrow because they make borrowing very expensive through the use of very biased methodologies through credit rating agencies and systems,” he said.
The conference also seeks to challenge this status quo by exploring new paradigms that would foster more equitable lending practices and thereby empower African nations.
Central to the discourse is the imperative to reimagine how Africa can harness its own wealth to drive progress. This aspiration is hampered by multiple factors, including a global architecture perceived as being skewed, weakened institutions, inadequate mechanisms for public debt accountability, suboptimal investment choices, and pervasive corruption that exacerbate the challenges posed by ineffective public debt management. The conference seeks to dissect these complexities and propose innovative solutions that could lay the groundwork for a prosperous future.
AfCoDD III is poised to host discussions that pivot around the establishment of a global order founded on principles of equality and rectification of historical injustices. The recommendations emerging from this pivotal conference will not only shape the contours of the Africa Climate Conference themed ‘Driving Green Growth and Climate Finance Solutions for Africa and the World,’ scheduled for September 4-6 in Kenya, but will also exert influence on the upcoming IMF and World Bank annual meetings to be held in Marrakech, Morocco, from October 9-15.
The conference is also primed to usher in a new chapter in Africa’s approach to debt and development, fostering hope for a more equitable and prosperous future.
