Campaigners calling for the cancellation of African debt staged a protest in Ghana’s capital.
The event on Friday — which RFI said was attended by hundreds — was organized by Ghana’s Trades Union Congress and the International Trade Union Confederation-Africa. The organizers, in a petition handed to Ghana’s finance minister, said “total and unconditional cancellation of Africa’s unsustainable external debts” would be “an act of reparative justice.”
Africa’s external debt doubled from over $500 billion in 2020 to more than $1 trillion in 2024, according to a UNDP report published last month. It said at least 22 African countries are currently in, or at high risk of, debt distress. And sub-Saharan Africa’s average debt-to-GDP ratio stood at nearly 60% by the end of 2024. Campaigners say high debt servicing costs and the IMF’s focus on austerity measures erodes public health care and education systems.
Ghana is emerging from its worst economic crisis in a generation, which included a 2022 debt default that prompted a $3 billion loan from the IMF. Ethiopia and Zambia have also turned to the IMF following sovereign defaults in the last few years.
