Africa-G20 : Rising Debt Undermines Development

Africa’s debt is increasing at an alarming rate, jeopardizing the continent’s economic stability. To curb the phenomenon, several AU experts meeting in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa are calling for concerted action to reform debt management, improve transparency, and reduce financing costs. Speaking at the AU headquarters on Monday November 10, 2025, the Chairperson of the African Union Commission, Mahamoud Ali Youssouf, warned that the continent’s debt crisis is undermining development. He said, “Within a short pace of time, public debt has grown to about $1.8 trillion, representing about two-thirds of the continent’s GDP”, adding that, “A greater part of the debt emanates from high cost of borrowing that limits access to concessional financing, obliging many states to borrow at high interest rates, particularly from private lenders that impose significant risk premiums”.
The Chairperson and many other personalities were flabbergasted with the fact that, in 2024 alone, debt-service payments exceeded $70 billion, consuming an increasing share of public revenues and eroding fiscal space. With many governments spending more on servicing debt than on investments in human development and economies, people are suffering with over twenty African countries now in a situation of over-indebtedness or risk finding themselves in it soon, rising from an average debt/GDP ratio of 44.4% in 2015 to nearly 67% today. 
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