At Africa Forward Summit, Civil Society Leaders Urge France to Lead on Debt

Six prominent civil society leaders from the Global South and Global North have issued an urgent call for France to take the lead on eliminating the illegal and unsustainable debt that’s holding back the development and prosperity of the Global South. The call comeson the occasion of the Africa Forward Summit, which was co-hosted by France and Kenya in Nairobi on 11 and 12 May. 

On the occasion of this Africa Forward Summit, France must use its significant political influence on international sovereign debt issues to call for debt cancellations for Global South countries that request it, and to demand a suspension of debt payments for countries that are heavily indebted or undergoing debt restructuring, such as Ethiopia. This is a matter of justice and reparations. 

Countries such as Ghana, Kenya and Zambia devote between 30 and 50 per cent of their revenues to debt servicing. These repayments far exceed the combined health and education budgets in most African countries.

In the short term, there can be no financing for development and the fight against climate change and its consequences without the cancellation of unsustainable and illegitimate debts by all creditors, including private creditors, of over-indebted African countries. Averting a repeat of the debt crises that have cyclically burdened African economies demands more than relief measures. It requires fundamental reform of debt governance itself. 

While vocal in its rhetoric, France continues to oppose a genuine reform of the international debt architecture, which is currently dominated by the interests of rich countries in spaces or clubs closed to Global South countries: the IMF, G20, G7, the Paris Club, the Common Framework.

France must reverse its position of principled opposition to a United Nations Framework Convention on Debt by agreeing, as a first step, to participate in the intergovernmental process towards closing the gaps in the debt architecture as articulated under Paragraph 50(f) as adopted by all UN Member States in the Sevilla Commitment.

France must seize the opportunity and show its leadership. 

KEY FACTS ON GLOBAL SOUTH DEBT

• In 2024, lending countries received more in debt repayments from Global South countries than they provided in new financing. 
• Official development assistance to Africa now represents more than half of what Africa will have to pay in 2026 to service its external debt.
• Africa’s public debt rose by 183% between 2010 and 2022, mainly due to external shocks such as the pandemic and rising interest rates.
• Out of 36 low-income countries worldwide in or at high risk of debt distress, 21 are in Africa.
• Nearly 70% of climate funds for Africa have been in the form of loans. 
• In 2024, 43% of African debt was held by private creditors, 34% by multilateral banks, and 23% by bilateral creditors, led by China, France and Saudi Arabia.