Unpacking Africa’s Debt

The 2024 OSAA Flagship Report unpacks some of the myths associated with debt in Africa and proposes avenues for sustainable solutions, based on the United Nations Secretary-General’s calls to accelerate the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the need to deploy an SDG stimulus package for this purpose and to create the financing environment to achieve climate resilience. The report shows that contrary to popular belief that Africa suffers a debt overhang, in fact, the continent requires an additional $1.3 trillion to $1.6 trillion to meet the SDGs and Agenda 2063 Aspirations. Faced with compounding crises such as financial distress, climate change, food insecurity and persistent conflict and unrest, African countries will continue needing to turn to borrowing to build back better and close their development financing gap.