Finance Minister Dr. Cassiel Ato Forson has called for a balanced and humane international response to Africa’s deepening debt crisis, warning that the continent cannot be locked into an endless cycle of repayments at the expense of development.
The Minister made the remarks in Accra after receiving a petition from ITUC-Africa and the Trade Union Congress (TUC) Ghana, who are pushing for full cancellation of Africa’s ballooning external debt.
Africa’s cumulative debt burden has now crossed US\$1.3 trillion, with many countries, including Ghana, struggling to meet repayment schedules.
Dr. Forson rejected calls for outright debt repudiation but insisted that the world must acknowledge the difference between countries unwilling to pay and those genuinely unable to meet obligations due to fiscal distress.
“There are differences between we can’t pay and we won’t pay. We can’t pay means something significant has happened. For example you saying you will not pay means you have the resources but you deliberately don’t want to pay. That is debt repudiation but when you say you cannot pay, it means something significant has happened as to why you cannot pay.
“In the case of these 23 African countries, their debt service cost has crowded out very important spending and so if you conduct a critical debt sustainability analysis, they simply cannot pay,” he stated.”
He stressed that Ghana’s ongoing debt restructuring reflects the broader challenges confronting African economies battered by COVID-19 aftershocks, inflation, and currency depreciation.
The unions’ petition argued that debt repayments are draining resources that should be invested in poverty reduction and job creation.
Dr. Forson welcomed the advocacy but urged that the solution lies in a fairer framework that supports distressed economies while preserving credibility in global financial systems.
