ActionAid’s discovering has proven that Africa, which is considered one of least contributors of local weather menace, is owed $36 trillion in local weather debt by wealthy nations.
“Despite this, African countries continue to prioritise debt repayments to rich countries and global financial institutions, sacrificing critical public services such as healthcare, education, and climate action,” the report stated.
Arthur Larok, Secretary General of ActionAid International described the menace as a “travesty that African nations are being crushed under the weight of foreign debt, while the world richest countries evade their responsibility to pay for the climate crisis and reparations for historical injustices.”
“By forcing countries to prioritize debt repayment over essential services, rich countries are pushing Africa to the brink.”
The report highlighted that in 2024 alone, lower-income African international locations paid US$60 billion in debt repayments, diverting funds from essential sectors that would enhance the lives of tens of millions. In distinction, wealthy international locations must be paying at the very least US$1.4 trillion yearly in local weather finance to Africa, an quantity 25 occasions larger than Africa’s annual debt funds.
Chikumbutso Ngosi, Young Urban Women Programme Manager at ActionAid International, emphasised the gendered influence of this disaster: “Servicing exterior money owed and complying with IMF mortgage circumstances are undermining investments in well being, training, and local weather motion, disproportionately affecting girls and ladies.
The report additionally uncovered the stark inequality in international finance. African international locations are charged a mean rate of interest of 9.8% on loans 12 occasions larger than the 0.8% rate of interest paid by Germany.
ActionAid urged African leaders to take a stand in opposition to each historic and ongoing injustices, including that the report calls on the AU and international actions to determine a brand new UN Framework Convention on Debt to interchange the unfair, colonial monetary system managed by the IMF.
By Adama Makasuba
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