Africa's rising debt burden

African finance ministers used the International Monetary Fund and World Bank spring meetings in Washington this month to warn that higher borrowing costs and shrinking aid are pushing more countries toward a debt squeeze. (imf.org) A United Nations-backed Borrowers’ Platform was launched on April 15, with UN Trade and Development as secretariat, to give debtor countries a shared forum on debt talks and debt management. Egypt and Pakistan are leading its interim phase. (unctad.org; unctad.org) UN Trade and Development said external debt across developing countries reached $11.7 trillion in 2024, while debt-service costs climbed to about $920 billion. It said 54 countries, home to 3.4 billion people, now spend more on debt payments than on health or education. (unctad.org) For Africa, the pressure is sharper because concessional money is thinning out at the same time. Reuters reported on April 9 that official development assistance from rich countries fell 23.1% in 2025 to $174.3 billion, the biggest annual drop on record, citing Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development data. (cnbcafrica.com) The International Monetary Fund said this month that more than one-third of sub-Saharan African countries are at high risk of debt distress or already in it. In 21 countries, fiscal deficits are larger than the level needed to stabilize debt. (imf.org) The World Bank said high public debt and rising debt service are crowding out development spending across the region, while growth forecasts for 2026 were revised lower. Its April update said sub-Saharan Africa is now expected to grow 4.1% in 2026, unchanged from 2025 but 0.3 percentage points below its October 2025 projection. (worldbank.org) Africa’s debt problem is not just about how much is owed, but who is owed. ONE’s latest data says African countries owed $707.9 billion to external creditors in 2024, with 42% owed to private creditors, 37% to multilateral lenders and 21% to bilateral creditors. (data.one.org) That creditor mix has made refinancing harder because private debt usually carries higher interest rates and shorter maturities than official loans. ONE said Africa’s external debt service will total $84.4 billion in 2024, after debt stocks more than doubled over the past decade. (data.one.org) International Monetary Fund Africa director Abebe Aemro Selassie said on April 16 that the region entered 2026 with strong momentum, then faced a new shock from the war in the Middle East and what he called a sharp decline in foreign aid. The Fund’s April outlook says rising interest bills and dwindling concessional finance are inflating debt-service burdens and squeezing budgets. (imf.org; imf.org) The new borrowers’ group will not cut debt on its own, and creditor-led frameworks such as the Group of 20 Common Framework remain in place. But debtor governments are trying to arrive at future negotiations with shared data, shared tactics and a louder voice than they had before April 15. (unctad.org; worldbank.org)