Former President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has described Ghana’s debt restructuring under the G20 Common Framework as “one of the darkest and most painful episodes” of his presidency, calling for a complete cancellation of Africa’s $1 trillion external debt burden.
Delivering remarks at the AU-EU High-Level Seminar in Brussels ahead of the AU-EU Summit, the former Ghanaian leader admitted that while the restructuring process offered temporary macroeconomic stability, it came at an immense social and human cost.
“I witnessed the suffocating grip of debt on our economy and on our citizens. This deeply troubled me and still does.”
His comments revisited one of the most difficult policy decisions of his administration—adopting the G20 Common Framework in 2023 to restructure the country’s unsustainable external debt.
Under the deal, Ghana restructured $13 billion in Eurobonds and secured commitments that provided $10.5 billion in external debt service relief through 2026.
The outcome lowered the country’s debt-to-GDP ratio from the mid-80s to 70.5 percent, restored investor confidence, and anchored an IMF-supported programme. Yet, Akufo-Addo stressed that these achievements did not reflect the hardship borne by citizens.
“The most painful part was the impact on ordinary people. Pensioners, young people, and small investors saw their lives and livelihoods shattered,” he said, adding that the drawn-out and sequential nature of the restructuring prolonged uncertainty and eroded public trust in governance.
Africa’s Debt Crisis
The former President’s reflections extended beyond Ghana to Africa’s wider debt crisis, which he described as a structural injustice rooted in a skewed international financial system.
He argued that the continent’s $1 trillion debt burden illustrates a system “not built to free us, but to bind us,” one that leaves African governments locked in cycles of repayment rather than development.
According to him, more than 30 African countries now spend more on interest payments than on public health, diverting much-needed resources from essential services.
“Every dollar diverted to creditors is a dollar taken from a hospital, from a child’s vaccination, from a community’s future. This is not economics, it is inequity”.
In his call for reform, the former President urged immediate debt service suspension, comprehensive restructuring, and new concessional financing.
He was clear that debt relief should not be perceived as charity from wealthier nations but as a matter of fairness. “Debt relief for Africa is not an act of generosity. It is an act of justice,” he said. Akufo-Addo also proposed a forward-looking framework that links debt relief to climate resilience.
Debt Relief for Green Investment and Resilience
He suggested the creation of a “Debt Relief for Green Investment and Resilience” programme, arguing that Africa, despite contributing less than four percent of global emissions, bears a disproportionate share of climate-related disasters such as floods, droughts, and crop failures. Reparations for such damages, he reminded the audience, amount to trillions of dollars.
“To our European partners, I say this: hear the voice of your neighbouring continent. Stand with the AU and South Africa’s G20 Presidency to advance ambitious reform of the Common Framework”.
At the same time, Akufo-Addo acknowledged that African leaders must also play their part. He urged governments across the continent to build stronger institutions, diversify their economies, and fully leverage the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) to drive self-reliance.
However, he warned that even the most courageous local reforms would be undermined in the absence of global financial reforms that address predatory lending and punitive trade terms.
“The sacrifices we make today, the compromises, the collaborations we engage in today can only inure to the benefit of our world. When Africa rises free from the weight of debt, the whole world rises with it”.
Akufo-Addo’s call comes amid a growing chorus of African leaders demanding changes to the international financial system. His remarks follow the African Union’s renewed advocacy for reparations, debt relief, and an overhaul of global financial governance.
They also align with recent appeals from Ghana’s sitting President, John Dramani Mahama, who used the 80th United Nations General Assembly to call for a “complete reset” of the international financial architecture, which he argued is “rigged against Africa.”
The convergence of voices—from a sitting President and his predecessor, to the AU and its partners—underscores the urgency of Africa’s debt question and its central place in current global policy debates.
For Akufo-Addo, Ghana’s painful experience stands as both a warning and a rallying cry: that behind the statistics and ratios lie citizens whose dignity and livelihoods must remain at the heart of any financial reform agenda.
