UNGA: Malawi President Urges International Community To Write Off Africa’s Debt

President Lazarus Chakwera of Malawi has urged the international community to write off or restructure debts owed to bilateral and multilateral institutions by African countries.

Chakwera appealed while addressing the 79th session of the UN General Assembly. He said relieving African countries of their debt service obligations would help the continent attend to its pressing problems.

We are trying everything possible to manage our debts, but if you could consider either restructuring or completely writing off some of these debts, Africa would have a ‘breathing space, he said.

According to the President of the African Development Bank (AfDB), Akinwuni Adesina, African countries spend 65% of their GDP on servicing external debt.

Adesina has advocated for transparency and accountability in loans obtained by African countries, as some loans undermine the continent’s economic potential.

Speaking at a summit in Washington, he said,

I think it’s time for us to have debt transparency and accountability and make sure that this whole thing of these opaque natural resource-backed loans actually ends, because it complicates the debt issue and the resolution issue, he added.

The World Bank and the AfDB put Africa’s external debt at $1.152 trillion in 2023, an increase from $1.12 trillion in 2022.

Malawi’s external debt currently totals US$4 billion. Nigeria’s external debt as of Q3 2023 stood at US$41.59 billion (N31.98 trillion).

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Oluwatobi Odeyinka

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