Africa Demands Better Terms

African finance ministers went to the World Bank and International Monetary Fund spring meetings this month demanding cheaper financing and a bigger say over the rules that govern sovereign debt talks. (imf.org) At the center of the push was a new Borrowers’ Platform launched in Washington on April 15, with ministers and central bank governors from developing countries and Egypt’s finance minister, Ahmed Kouchouk, as a lead figure. The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, or UNCTAD, is serving as the platform’s secretariat. (unctad.org) UNCTAD said the platform is meant to improve debt-management capacity, strengthen cooperation among borrowing countries, and improve their representation in global debt discussions. Egypt was elected the inaugural chair after the launch on the sidelines of the spring meetings. (unctad.org) (zawya.com) The demand comes as the money available to poorer countries is shrinking. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development said official development assistance fell 23.1% in real terms in 2025 to $174.3 billion, the largest annual contraction on record. (one.oecd.org) Borrowing has also become harder to sustain. At the spring meetings, the Group of Twenty-Four of emerging and developing economies said rising interest rates and borrowing costs were squeezing fiscal space and called for tools that lower financing costs. (brettonwoodsproject.org) African officials are making that case after a brief stretch of improvement. The International Monetary Fund said sub-Saharan Africa grew 4.5% in 2025, the fastest pace in more than a decade, but warned on April 16 that those gains were coming under pressure from a new external shock tied to the Middle East war and higher oil, gas, and fertilizer prices. (imf.org) The platform is also a response to who has power in debt workouts. UNCTAD said creditor coordination has expanded, but developing countries remain underrepresented in the forums where debt terms are negotiated and standards are set. (unctad.org) Supporters want the borrowers’ group to function as a counterweight to creditor clubs such as the Paris Club and London Club. Kouchouk said debtor countries have long lacked a structured space for coordination and a voice in institutions that shape international finance. (zawya.com) The limits are clear, too. Bretton Woods Project said the G24 still struggled this month to turn its broad complaints about debt and liquidity into a coherent shared program, a sign of how hard it remains to align countries with very different creditors and financing needs. (brettonwoodsproject.org) What happens next is less about one meeting than about whether borrowers can stay coordinated when restructurings turn country-specific. The new platform gives them a table of their own; creditors still control most of the money. (unctad.org) (zawya.com)