Reimagining Global Economic Governance: African and Global Perspectives

The document details a conference focused on the marginalization of Africa within the global economic system, specifically regarding the legacy of structural adjustment and the current lack of representative governance in international financial institutions. It identifies critical barriers to African development, including inflated risk premiums that cost the continent over $74 billion annually and the failure of the Global North to deliver over $1 trillion in promised climate financing. The report proposes a tiered reform agenda: short-term priorities include debt cancellation and increased access to Special Drawing Rights; medium-term goals focus on improving credit ratings through better data and combating illicit financial flows; and long-term goals aim for greater representation in the IMF and World Bank. Additionally, it explores the potential for Africa to leverage its natural capital and critical minerals for the energy transition, while cautioning against new dependencies on China as the world shifts toward a multipolar order.

• African countries face significant financial marginalization due to subjective risk assessments that inflate capital costs, resulting in an annual cost of more than $74 billion according to the UNDP.
• There is a massive gap in climate finance delivery, with over $1 trillion in promised funds remaining undisbursed, while the appearance of robust concessional financing is skewed by large allocations for Ukraine within the World Bank's International Development Association.
• Illicit financial flows (IFFs) severely undermine domestic resource mobilization in Africa, with UNCTAD estimating annual losses of $88.6 billion, which is nearly 2.9% of the continent's GDP.
• Africa's economic potential in the energy transition is hindered by a lack of technology transfer and intellectual property barriers, though its critical minerals provide leverage against competing powers like the US, EU, and China.
• Migration is often mischaracterized in the West as a crisis, whereas 80% of African migrants remain within Africa and remittances—totaling $100 billion in 2022—outpace ODA and foreign direct investment.
• African digital sovereignty is obstructed by a lack of infrastructure, such as the existence of only one supercomputer on the continent (in Morocco), and algorithmic biases in AI models trained primarily in the West.
• A proposed unified African reform agenda includes short-term goals like debt cancellation and the use of Special Drawing Rights (SDRs), medium-term goals like improving credit rating data, and long-term goals such as reweighting voting shares in Bretton Woods institutions.

APA

South African Institute of International Affairs (2024). Reimagining Global Economic Governance: African and Global Perspectives. https://saiia.org.za/research/reimagining-global-economic-governance-african-and-global-perspectives/

Chicago

South African Institute of International Affairs. Reimagining Global Economic Governance: African and Global Perspectives. 2024. https://saiia.org.za/research/reimagining-global-economic-governance-african-and-global-perspectives/.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=South African Institute of International Affairs |title=Reimagining Global Economic Governance: African and Global Perspectives |date=20 September 2024 |url=https://saiia.org.za/research/reimagining-global-economic-governance-african-and-global-perspectives/ |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{southafricaninstituteofinternationalaffairs2024reimagining, author = {{South African Institute of International Affairs}}, title = {{Reimagining Global Economic Governance: African and Global Perspectives}}, institution = {South African Institute of International Affairs}, year = {2024}, month = sep, url = {https://saiia.org.za/research/reimagining-global-economic-governance-african-and-global-perspectives/}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }