African Ministers call for a reformed global debt architecture.

The call was made at a meeting of the High-level Working Group on the Global Financial Architecture on the margins of ECA's 55th Conference of African Ministers of Finance, Planning, and Economic Development in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

Coordinated by the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), the Group comprises African Ministers of Finance, Planning and Economic Development, the African Union, the African Development Bank, Afreximbank, and the World Bank, and includes the participation of IMF staff and Executive Directors.

The Group serves as a forum to develop reform proposals for the global financial architecture and strengthen the African voice on the global stage.

Hanan Morsy, ECA's Deputy Executive Secretary and Chief Economist noted that 2023 presents a critical moment to progress reform efforts advocated by the Group.

Many of the Group's ideas align with the UN Secretary General's proposals for international financial architecture reform, which form part of his call for an SDG stimulus of at least $500 billion per year to achieve Agenda 2030.

The Group underscored that the Global Sovereign Debt Roundtable, a joint initiative by the Indian G20 presidency, the IMF, and the World Bank, the Summit for a New Global Financial Pact in June as well as the Climate Action Summit, the Climate Ambition Summit and the SDG Summit to be held in September are important opportunities to advance the global financial architecture reform agenda.

The Ministers also expressed their hope that Africa, represented by the African Union, would finally obtain a permanent seat in the G20, thereby further strengthening Africa's voice on the global stage.

Debt and the Common Framework

Ministers voiced concerns over rising debt vulnerabilities in Africa, as eight African countries face debt distress and 13 are at high risk of debt distress per the IMF-World Bank's Debt Sustainability Analysis.

They acknowledged that the G20 Common Framework, designed to address today's more diverse creditor profiles, has not effectively supported nations in debt distress.

Ministers urged the G20 to urgently overhaul the Common Framework to make it more effective, time-bound, and transparent while providing debt service standstill for applicants.

Key proposals include forming Expanded Creditor Committees with private sector creditors to smooth coordination challenges, establishing a 'Comparability of Treatment' formula to minimize technical disputes, and bolder use...