The road ahead is steep but not insurmountable: how South Africa’s G20 can still deliver for debt and development

The research paper outlines the challenges facing African development finance, including a significant annual financing gap and the 'African premium' on international capital markets. It argues that the G20 common framework for sovereign debt restructuring has failed African countries and proposes that South Africa's G20 presidency prioritise the creation of a Borrowers' Forum, the improvement of sovereign debt architecture via the Global Sovereign Debt Roundtable, and the appointment of a G20 panel of technical experts to address barriers to affordable finance.

• Africa faces a substantial annual financing gap for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and Agenda 2063, estimated between $900-billion and $1.3-trillion, which cannot be filled by domestic resources or official funding from donor governments and multilateral development banks.
• African countries encounter an 'African premium' when accessing international capital markets, resulting in $74.5 billion in excess annual interest payments compared to other regions with similar credit ratings. This premium is attributed to factors such as credit rating bias, data deficiencies, and poor fiscal management.
• The G20 common framework for sovereign debt restructuring, intended to manage obligations for low-income countries to official and commercial creditors, has been unsuccessful in delivering adequate outcomes for African nations.
• To improve development finance, the author recommends that South Africa's G20 presidency advocate for three specific initiatives: the establishment of a Borrowers' Forum for peer learning and technical support, the use of the Global Sovereign Debt Roundtable (GSDR) to define principles for responsible borrowing and lending, and the creation of a G20 panel of technical experts to study barriers to affordable finance for African sovereigns.

APA

South African Institute of International Affairs (2025). The road ahead is steep but not insurmountable: how South Africa’s G20 can still deliver for debt and development. https://saiia.org.za/research/the-road-ahead-is-steep-but-not-insurmountable-how-south-africas-g20-can-still-deliver-for-debt-and-development/

Chicago

South African Institute of International Affairs. The road ahead is steep but not insurmountable: how South Africa’s G20 can still deliver for debt and development. 2025. https://saiia.org.za/research/the-road-ahead-is-steep-but-not-insurmountable-how-south-africas-g20-can-still-deliver-for-debt-and-development/.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=South African Institute of International Affairs |title=The road ahead is steep but not insurmountable: how South Africa’s G20 can still deliver for debt and development |date=16 July 2025 |url=https://saiia.org.za/research/the-road-ahead-is-steep-but-not-insurmountable-how-south-africas-g20-can-still-deliver-for-debt-and-development/ |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{southafricaninstituteofinternationalaffairs2025road, author = {{South African Institute of International Affairs}}, title = {{The road ahead is steep but not insurmountable: how South Africa’s G20 can still deliver for debt and development}}, institution = {South African Institute of International Affairs}, year = {2025}, month = jul, url = {https://saiia.org.za/research/the-road-ahead-is-steep-but-not-insurmountable-how-south-africas-g20-can-still-deliver-for-debt-and-development/}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }