Africa launches borrowers' platform

African finance ministers and central bank governors launched a new Borrowers’ Platform in Washington on April 15, creating a formal bloc for debt-hit countries to coordinate before talks with creditors. (unctad.org) The platform was unveiled on the sidelines of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank Spring Meetings, which ran from April 13 to 18 in Washington. United Nations Trade and Development, the agency known as UNCTAD, is serving as the secretariat. (worldbank.org) (unctad.org) Egypt’s finance minister, Ahmed Kouchouk, was listed by UNCTAD as a lead speaker at the launch, and Egypt is serving as interim chair while Pakistan is vice-chair. A UNCTAD briefing on April 21 said the working group also includes Zambia, Nepal, Colombia, Honduras and the Maldives. (unctad.org 1) (unctad.org 2) UNCTAD said the new body is meant to improve debt-management capacity, share technical know-how and give borrowers more representation in global debt discussions. Reuters reported that backers see it as a counterweight to creditor forums such as the Paris Club, where official lenders have coordinated for decades. (unctad.org) (bworldonline.com) The push comes as debt-service costs squeeze budgets across Africa and other developing regions. UNCTAD said developing countries’ external debt burden reached $11.7 trillion in 2024, and 54 countries with 3.4 billion people now spend more on debt service than on health or education. (unctad.org) The World Bank said in its April 2026 Africa Economic Update that high public debt, rising debt service and declining external financing are crowding out development spending in Sub-Saharan Africa. The bank kept its 2026 regional growth forecast at 4.1% but said geopolitical risks and tighter financial conditions are limiting job creation and recovery. (worldbank.org) Aid flows are also shrinking. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development said preliminary data show official development assistance fell 23.1% in real terms in 2025 to $174.3 billion, the largest annual drop on record. (oecd.org) (one.oecd.org) The Borrowers’ Platform did not appear out of nowhere. UNCTAD said the idea was written into the Sevilla Commitment at the Fourth International Conference on Financing for Development in July 2025, then pushed forward by a ministerial roundtable at the World Bank-International Monetary Fund annual meetings in October 2025. (unctad.org) At the April 15 launch, member states agreed to set interim governance, widen participation and draft a work program running to the next International Monetary Fund-World Bank annual meetings in October 2026. For now, the platform’s immediate job is simpler: get borrowers in the same room before creditors do. (unctad.org 1) (unctad.org 2)