President John Dramani Mahama is urging African leaders to reconceive the continent’s debt framework, warning that surging liabilities threaten fiscal autonomy and long-term growth.
Speaking at the African Union’s High-Level Conference on Debt on May 12, Mahama said African governments spent more than $90 billion on debt service last year, nearly double the foreign aid they received, and strangling budgets for health, education, and infrastructure.
“Africa is caught in a paradox,” Mahama said. “We are mobilizing for growth but simultaneously shackled by debt service obligations that crowd out investment in our people.”
Mahama pointed to Ghana’s own fiscal journey, from HIPC relief in the early 2000s to a $5.4 billion restructuring under the G20 Common Framework, as evidence of systemic pitfalls. While the country invested heavily in roads and power plants, he said, external shocks such as the Covid-19 pandemic and global inflation drove debt to 90.7% of GDP by 2022. “This was compounded by poor governance and excessive borrowing for budget support,” he acknowledged.
To break the cycle, Mahama outlined a three-pillar strategy: Transparency, Productive Borrowing, and Collective Advocacy.
Domestically, the President said Ghana will establish an independent fiscal council, ring-fence social spending, and leverage its Infrastructure Investment Fund to attract private capital.
He urged a Common African Position ahead of the G20 summit in New Delhi, calling for a shift “from debtors pleading for relief to partners demanding reform.”
