play videoProfessor Godfred Bokpin is an economist
Africa’s public debt has reached a staggering $2.14 trillion in 2024, rising sharply from $1.8 trillion just two years earlier.
The cost of servicing external debt remains high, with projections for 2025 standing at $88.7 billion, only slightly below the $89.4 billion recorded in 2024.
As the continent faces mounting financial pressure, economists and policy experts are calling for deep structural reforms and a push toward restorative justice to address the root causes of the crisis.
Speaking on GhanaWeb’s BizTech, Professor Godfred Bokpin, a finance scholar at the University of Ghana, described debt as “the new form of colonization,” arguing that Africa has yet to fully uncover and embrace its true identity.
Africa’s creditors must cancel the continent’s debts – ITUC-Africa
The discussion also spotlighted the Black Paper, a research-driven initiative examining the continent’s debt landscape and its broader implications.
According to UNCTAD’s 2023 report, four countries, Chad, Ethiopia, Ghana, and Zambia, have already defaulted on their debt obligations.
Alarmingly, seven African nations now spend more on interest payments than on education, while 25 allocate more to debt servicing than to healthcare.
This edition of BizTech was hosted by Ernestina Serwaa Asante.
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