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 periods of his presidency. He acknowledged that while the program provided temporary relief, the enduring scars it left on citizens and the economy remain significant and troubling.
Speaking at the AU-EU High-Level Seminar in Brussels on Thursday, October 2, 2025, the former president reflected on the challenges Ghana faced during the debt crisis. “I witnessed the suffocating grip of debt on our economy and our citizens. This deeply troubled me and still does,” he stated in front of African and European leaders gathered ahead of the AU-EU Summit.
Akufo-Addo recalled that when Ghana opted for the Common Framework in 2023, the process was prolonged, chaotic, and painful. Negotiations were drawn out, burdens were unevenly shared, and uncertainty persisted. Nevertheless, he emphasised that persistence eventually led to results.
By 2024, Ghana had restructured $13 billion in Eurobonds, securing $10.5 billion in external debt service relief through 2026. As a result, the country’s debt-to-GDP ratio decreased from the mid-80s to 70.5 percent, which helped restore some investor confidence and solidified an IMF-supported program.
Beneath the statistics lies a human cost that he described as unbearable. “The process was sequential, not simultaneous. It prolonged uncertainty, eroded investor confidence, and inflicted a heavy cost at home that became a dark cloud moment for me as President,” he admitted. The former President expressed that the most heartbreaking aspect was the impact on ordinary citizens. Domestic bondholders, including pensioners, small investors, and young people, were hit hardest. “These were individuals whose lives and livelihoods were shattered in the process,” he lamented.
Beyond Ghana’s ordeal, Akufo-Addo emphasized that Africa’s $1 trillion debt burden highlights the injustice of a global financial system “not built to free us, but to bind us.” He warned that over 30 African countries now spend more on interest payments than on healthcare. “Every dollar diverted to creditors is a dollar taken away from a hospital, from a child’s vaccination, and from a community’s future.
This is not just an issue of economics, but one of inequity,” he declared. The former President renewed his call for bold, permanent debt relief for Africa, insisting it should be treated not as charity but as justice. “Justice delayed is justice denied. Debt relief for Africa is not an act of generosity. It is an act of justice,” he said.
He proposed linking debt cancellation to green investment and climate resilience, stressing that Africa suffers the most from climate shocks despite contributing less than 4% to global emissions. Much of the continent’s debt, he argued, was incurred in responding to crises “not of our making.”
Quoting the International Court of Justice, he reminded world leaders of their legal and moral duty to provide reparations for climate damages. “By even the most conservative estimates, that runs into the trillions,” he noted. Akufo-Addo urged immediate debt service suspension, comprehensive restructuring, and new concessional financing mechanisms.
“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.”
While acknowledging Africa’s own responsibility to fight corruption, diversify economies, and strengthen institutions, Akufo-Addo warned that without global reforms, “even the most courageous efforts will be undermined by predatory lending, punitive trade terms, and a financial system that too often works against us rather than with us.”
He ended with a message of hope and solidarity: “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.”
Source: Abubakar Ibrahim
