Amplifying Africa’s Voices (AAV) Dialogue #19
The Common African Position on Debt
From Africa’s led and owned debt prescriptions to practical implementation
Hosted in partnership with the African Center for Economic Transformation (ACET)
The 19th Amplifying Africa’s Voices (AAV) dialogue took place on 24th February, 2026, and explored the Common African Position (CAP) on Debt, a continental strategy for sovereign debt management and reform. Invited speakers included Patrick Ndzana Olomo (Head of Economic Policy and Sustainable Development, African Union Commission), Fiona Tregenna (Director at UNU-MERIT), Daouda Sembene (CEO of AfriCatalyst), and Yungong Theophilus Jong (AFRODAD). The dialogue brought together a select group of African economic policy institutes and thought leaders to assess how Africa’s debt position can strengthen cooperation and transparency, reduce information asymmetry, and serve as an effective negotiation tool in global frameworks.
The discussion took place against a backdrop of persistently impaired growth in African economies due to global external shocks, domestic factors and rising debt. The African debt burden continues to rise, reducing fiscal space for social investments and threatening to derail progress toward Agenda 2063 aspirations. Public debt has exceeded 65% of GDP in Africa since 2020. Out of the 33 countries in debt distress, 21 are African. The share of government spending on debt service now exceeds health expenditure, highlighting growing trade-offs in budgets.
In response, the African Union convened the inaugural Debt Conference in Lomé, Togo, in May 2025, which culminated in the landmark recommendation to develop a Common African Position on Debt.
A revised draft was subsequently endorsed during the 8th Ordinary Session of the Specialized Technical Committee (STC) on Finance, Monetary Affairs, Economic Planning and Integration of the AU and advanced at the 4th Finance and Central Bank Ministers’ Meeting of the G20, leading to the Ministerial Declaration on Debt Sustainability in October 2025. The CAP on Debt was officially adopted by the Executive Council of the African Union during the February 2026 AU Summit.
Paralleling these efforts, the South African G20 Presidency convened an Africa Expert Panel (AEP) to prepare an independent report identifying key priorities for the continent’s developmental interests in areas relevant to the work of the G20 Finance Track, including a chapter focusing on sovereign debt crisis.
The following themes emerged from the interventions:
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The AEP perspective on debt
Speakers highlighted the four main actions identified by AEP to foster a shift in the debt landscape: (a) a fresh debt refinancing initiative to reduce the debt burden of low-income and vulnerable countries; (b) a Borrowers’ Club to empower a unified voice and technical capacity able to increase bargaining position within the global debt architecture; (c) a sovereign debt resolution mechanism that is building on the G20 Common Framework to include middle-income countries, enable automatic debt standstills, accelerate negotiations, and ensure fair burden-sharing among all creditors; and (d) more debt transparency and analysis among borrowers but also creditors to help distinguish between liquidity and solvency issues, to account for external and domestic debt, to reflect sovereign net worth, to enhance information sharing and public access to debt data.
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The CAP structure and rationale
Debt is a systemic issue. Africa’s public-debt burden and debt-service ratios rose sharply since 2020, compressing fiscal space for productive investment. Speakers highlighted high interest costs, exchange-rate strain, and frequent shocks such as climate events, commodity-price swings, and pandemics, which maintain a vicious cycle of low investment and high financing costs. The CAP was conceived as a living document that is articulated around the two pillars of (a) crisis response and systemic reforms and (b) sustainable financing and institutional strengthening. The discussion positioned the CAP as both a coordination tool for member states of the African Union and an advocacy instrument for engagement with global forums such as the G20.
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Shortcomings of existing global mechanisms
The G20 Common Framework was created to help countries manage sovereign debt crises, but it has delivered limited results: only Chad, Ethiopia, Ghana, and Zambia have applied so far. Market concerns about credit downgrades and the reluctance of private creditors to participate have undermined uptake; those creditors now hold nearly 40% of Africa's debt. Speakers described the framework as slow, creditor-driven, and patchy in coverage, especially with respect to private and non-Paris Club creditors, and insufficiently protective of growth and development. Presenters argued that these delays and partial engagements increase insolvency risks and raise eventual restructuring costs, reinforcing the need for a more ambitious and more inclusive reform of the framework in support of low- and middle-income countries.
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Transparency and data gaps
A central theme that was discussed is the lack of timely, comparable debt data, including contingent liabilities and off-balance risks. A persistent lack of timely, comparable, and auditable debt statistics undermines policy and negotiations. Speakers argued for a public, data-driven continental debt monitoring mechanism to reduce informational asymmetries that undermine policy and negotiation outcomes. The continental monitoring mechanism should be equipped with standardized templates, minimum reporting frequencies, independent audits, and clear reconciliation procedures across the treasury, central bank, and line ministries. Strong governance and redaction rules for commercially sensitive data were seen as essential for the monitoring mechanism.
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Collective borrower agency
Speakers proposed a formal borrowers’ platform to strengthen coordination, bargaining power, and technical capacity in sovereign debt negotiations. The Club would serve three core functions: (a) develop common negotiating positions and coordinated creditor engagement strategies; (b) pool technical expertise (legal templates, debt-sustainability analytics, burden-sharing models); and (c) amplify African borrower voices in global rule-making forums. The Club would reinforce reform efforts around the G20 Common Framework and collaborate with technical partners to advocate for faster, more inclusive restructuring processes.
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Complementary financing solutions and regional instruments
Borrowing is not an issue in itself. Africa will continue to rely on external finance to meet its development goals, but fragmented markets weaken governments' negotiating clout and leave them exposed to global shocks. To unlock Africa’s full economic potential, however, the continent must urgently strengthen the Alliance of African Multilateral Financial Institutions (AAMFI) to scale concessional finance via multilateral or regional banks. To support the coalition of AAMFIs, establish an African Financing Stability Mechanism (AFSM) to enhance transparent pricing and repayment, callable guarantees, and independent oversight to minimize default. Improve investment perception through regional platforms such as the proposed African Credit Rating Agency.
The discussion raised a lot of practical questions around: the relationship between the CAP on Debt and the “Compromiso de Sevilla” Borrowers’ Forum; the links between CAP on Debt’s implementation and Africa’s long term development strategy like AfCFTA, industrialization, climate transition; the expectations in terms of political bargaining power given the global context; the lessons learned from previous failed initiatives; the identification of alternatives to finance Africa’s development, with the support of the Global Public Investment Network (GPIN); the priorities to take up at the national level towards implementing the continental milestone; the role of African policy institutes in supporting such implementation in addition to individual governments; the tools to be set up for the circulation of information, including the constitution of a dedicated team; the connection with LAC region and Asia beyond Africa.
Key Takeaways and Actionable Messages
Push for global financial architecture reforms
- Hasten the implementation of the Common African Position on Debt
- Use the CAP’s technical asks to press for reforms to global processes: clearer, faster restructuring protocols; mechanisms for comprehensive creditor participation; and automatic standstill arrangements
Operationalize continental monitoring and data standards
- Finalize the African Debt Monitoring Mechanism (ADMM) scope, governance and data standards
- Develop public dashboards and early-warning indicators
- Pilot country coverage and reporting templates
Establish borrower coordination mechanisms
- Convene members for a Borrowers’ Club, define its mandate (that could include capacity building for debt relief or fresh financing negotiation, experience sharing, collective action, community of practice, safe convening spaces, initiatives merger and re-alignment, champions and advocates as per recommended by the Advancing African Agency Trough Borrower Coordination report) and link it to global borrower networks
Scale regional instruments that lower financing costs
- Develop alternative credit-rating capabilities, virtual investment platforms and other instruments that reduce information asymmetries and attract longer-term capital
- Work with regional development finance institutions to define feasibility, capitalization and access rules for liquidity instruments that reduce premature distress and support stabilization
Sustain political coalition-building and stakeholder engagement
- Maintain AU member-state coordination, institutionalize inclusive multi-stakeholder country dialogues (government, parliament, CSO, private sector) and use evidence from research networks to sustain advocacy
Conclusion
The webinar underscored the need for African member states to collectively address debt issues at the continental level through the CAP while working to reform global frameworks. The CAP is positioned as a practical instrument to strengthen Africa’s negotiating coherence, close data gaps, and create regional tools that reduce debt fragility while protecting development priorities and the Agenda 2063 aspirations. Immediate emphasis is on operationalizing the African Debt Monitoring Mechanism, institutionalizing borrower coordination, strengthening national capacity, and building the regional financing instruments needed to convert CAP commitments into measurable outcomes.