DEBT SUSTAINABILITY in the context of African Dependency and Underdevelopment

This research paper, based on a lecture by Opa Kapijimpanga, argues that Africa's recurring debt crises are a structural consequence of its position in the 'periphery' of global capitalism. The author contends that debt sustainability is unattainable under neoliberalism and requires a fundamental 'delinking' from institutions and ideologies that reinforce dependency and underdevelopment.

• The author hypothesizes that Africa will remain in a state of perpetual debt crises unless it exits the mode of dependency and underdevelopment established during colonialism. Achieving debt sustainability requires 'delinking from institutions and processes that trap Africa in this mode'.
• The 'Prebisch-Singer Hypothesis' explains how African debt sustainability is undermined by a reliance on primary commodities. Because the prices of primary commodities tend to decline over time relative to manufactured goods, African countries face reduced export earnings, which impairs their 'ability to service external debts which are denominated in foreign currencies'.
• The first African debt crisis of the 1980s and 1990s was driven by a combination of internal factors—such as poor governance and corruption—and external shocks. External drivers included high oil price shocks, declining commodity prices, and high-interest rates. Specifically, a decline in non-oil commodity prices led to an estimated loss of over US$35 billion in foreign exchange earnings in 1988 alone.
• The resolution of the first debt crisis was facilitated by global civil society movements, most notably the Jubilee 2000 movement, which collected 17 million signatures. This pressure led the G7 to implement the enhanced Highly Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) initiative and later the 2005 Multilateral Debt Relief Initiative (MDRI), which cancelled 100 percent of debt owed to the IMF, the World Bank's IDA, and the African Development Fund for qualifying countries.
• A second debt crisis began around 2020, with external debt reaching approximately US$720 billion. This crisis is attributed to the 2008 financial crisis, the COVID-19 pandemic, and the war in Ukraine. Unlike the first crisis, the current landscape is dominated by commercial/private debt and bilateral debt from China, shifting the focus from cancellation to 'debt restructuring'.
• The author argues that the IMF and WTO cannot be reformed to serve African interests and that Africa must instead pursue industrial transformation based on its own resource base. This includes producing capital goods to process raw materials and prioritizing trade within the 'Africa Trade Area' to prevent 'development leakage'.
• To fund transformation without relying on unsustainable borrowing, the author suggests cracking down on illicit financial flows by multinational corporations and leveraging the African diaspora. In 2020, remittances to sub-Sahara Africa totaled US$ 51 billion, representing a significant untapped pool of both financial and human resources.

APA

Kapijimpanga, O. (n.d.). DEBT SUSTAINABILITY in the context of African Dependency and Underdevelopment. African Forum and Network on Debt and Development. https://afrodad.org/sites/default/files/advocacy-documents/Afrodad%20Opa%20Lecture%20English%2020082024.pdf

Chicago

Kapijimpanga, Opa. DEBT SUSTAINABILITY in the context of African Dependency and Underdevelopment. African Forum and Network on Debt and Development, n.d. https://afrodad.org/sites/default/files/advocacy-documents/Afrodad%20Opa%20Lecture%20English%2020082024.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Kapijimpanga |first1=Opa |title=DEBT SUSTAINABILITY in the context of African Dependency and Underdevelopment |publisher=African Forum and Network on Debt and Development |url=https://afrodad.org/sites/default/files/advocacy-documents/Afrodad%20Opa%20Lecture%20English%2020082024.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{kapijimpanganddebt, author = {Kapijimpanga, Opa}, title = {{DEBT SUSTAINABILITY in the context of African Dependency and Underdevelopment}}, institution = {African Forum and Network on Debt and Development}, url = {https://afrodad.org/sites/default/files/advocacy-documents/Afrodad%20Opa%20Lecture%20English%2020082024.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }