Delete the Debt: Africa’s Liberation from Debt Supremacy

The document examines the crisis of external debt in Africa, noting that for some commodity-dependent nations, debt-to-GDP ratios exceeded 100% after the COVID-19 pandemic. It argues that current debt relief efforts by the G20 and UN are insufficient because they lack binding frameworks for private creditors. The authors contend that the global financial system reproduces colonial extraction and that only a coordinated effort to write off private, public, and multilateral debt can ensure a just recovery and protect socio-economic rights.

• Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, external debt-to-GDP ratios for commodity-dependent African nations, including Djibouti, Congo, and Mozambique, have risen above 100%. This has created a conflict between debt repayment and pandemic response, with Zambia becoming the first African country to default on its $425 million Eurobond repayments in November 2020.
• African countries face significantly higher borrowing costs than wealthy nations, paying interest rates between 5-16% on 10-year government bonds while the rich world borrows at rates close to zero. Consequently, as of the end of 2020, African governments budgeted only 2.6% of GDP for COVID-19 spending, compared to 11.2% in G20 countries.
• The document asserts that International Financial Institutions (IFIs) like the IMF and World Bank continue to entrench debt dependency through mechanisms such as the World Bank's Private Financing for Development agenda and Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs). This mirrors the 'lost decade' of the 1980s and 1990s where Structural Adjustment Programmes prioritized debt repayment over public services; for example, the IMF advised Mali that healthcare spending above 3% of GDP was 'unsustainable'.
• Private creditors are identified as a major obstacle to debt relief, with their share of foreign debts for low- and lower-middle income governments rising from 25% in 2010 to 47% in 2018. Specifically, the asset manager BlackRock holds nearly US$1 billion in Eurobonds across Kenya, Nigeria, Senegal, Zambia, and Ghana.
• As of December 2020, 36% of African government external debt was held by multilateral organisations (such as the IMF and World Bank) and 32% by bilateral creditors, with China accounting for 20% of the latter.

APA

Isaacs, G., & Phalatse, S. (n.d.). Delete the Debt: Africa’s Liberation from Debt Supremacy. Institute for Economic Justice. https://iej.org.za/press-room/in-the-media/delete-the-debt-africas-liberation-from-debt-supremacy/

Chicago

Isaacs, Gilad, and Sonia Phalatse. Delete the Debt: Africa’s Liberation from Debt Supremacy. Institute for Economic Justice, n.d. https://iej.org.za/press-room/in-the-media/delete-the-debt-africas-liberation-from-debt-supremacy/.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Isaacs |first1=Gilad |last2=Phalatse |first2=Sonia |title=Delete the Debt: Africa’s Liberation from Debt Supremacy |publisher=Institute for Economic Justice |url=https://iej.org.za/press-room/in-the-media/delete-the-debt-africas-liberation-from-debt-supremacy/ |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{isaacsnddelete, author = {Isaacs, Gilad and Phalatse, Sonia}, title = {{Delete the Debt: Africa’s Liberation from Debt Supremacy}}, institution = {Institute for Economic Justice}, url = {https://iej.org.za/press-room/in-the-media/delete-the-debt-africas-liberation-from-debt-supremacy/}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }