Africa-Press – Ghana. The President of Ghana, John Dramani Mahama, has called for the development of fairer and more effective tools and mechanisms for sovereign debt restructuring, stating that the current system does not meet the needs of African countries facing worsening financial crises.
Mahama made these remarks during his participation in international meetings addressing financing and development issues, where he emphasized that debt restructuring processes take a long time and impose significant economic and social burdens on debtor countries, hindering development and investment efforts.
The Ghanaian president pointed out that many African countries find themselves compelled to allocate a large portion of their resources to servicing debts instead of directing them towards health, education, and infrastructure sectors. He urged international financial institutions and creditors to adopt faster and more transparent mechanisms to address financial crises.
Ghana is one of the prominent African countries that has undergone a debt restructuring program in the context of the “Common Framework” of the G20 in recent years, after facing a severe economic crisis that led it to seek support from the International Monetary Fund and renegotiate with external creditors.
Mahama affirmed that his country’s experience has highlighted the need to reform the international financial system to ensure more effective participation from all creditors, including commercial lenders and bondholders, and to expedite reaching agreements that allow countries to regain economic stability.
This call comes at a time when several African countries, including Ethiopia, Zambia, and Ghana, are facing challenges related to debt restructuring and rising global borrowing costs, amid increasing demands for reforming the international financial system to better suit the needs of developing economies.
