Publications /
Policy Brief

Back
Download PDF
Debt Sustainability and Development Financing in Sub- Saharan Africa: Recent Dynamics
Authors
Badr Mandri
Lotfi El Jai
September 18, 2019
Related topics: 

Countries in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) currently face a yearly infrastructure financing gap ranging between $68-$108 billion along with other socio-economic challenges (AfDB, 2019). Debt financing remains a major source of growth as countries in the region work to achieve their developmental needs and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The levels of official development aid (ODA) and foreign direct investments (FDIs) remain volatile to fully meet the region financial needs. However, the sustainability of SSA external debt raises serious concerns if one looks at the rapid debt accumulation in recent years. This brief will highlight the recent changes in the nature and quality of debt in SSA along with details of the risks related to the shift in the creditors base. Finally, this brief aims to demonstrate the impact of these risks on debt sustainability and the future of development financing in SSA.

In the early part of the 21st century, debt sustainability challenged Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) as it sought to reach the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Following two episodes of debt relief (HIPC and MDRI2), the average debt-to-GDP ratio has decreased from over 100% in 2000 to less than 40% in 2010 (figure 1), representing a debt stock reduction of almost $100 billion (IMF, 2017). This was a breath of fresh air that would have allowed SSA countries to sustain their current and future debt levels and promote development expenditures in the region.

However, with the stagnation in the level of official development aid following the Global Financial Crisis of 2007, and the difficulties of the region’s countries in mobilizing domestic resources to finance their infrastructure and socio-economic development needs

RELATED CONTENT

  • Download PDF
    Challenges for Transatlantic Counterterrorism Cooperation in North Africa
    Authors
    Christopher S. Chivvis
    June 20, 2017
    The United States and Europe share a common interest in addressing the growing terrorist threats from North Africa. The emergence of ISIL as a force in the region — notably in Libya, but also in Egypt and to a lesser degree in Tunisia, Algeria, and Mali — is cause for genuine concern. The ISIL challenge is compounded by the persistence of older terrorist organizations, both local ones such as the region’s various Ansar al Sharias as well as al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), al ...
  • Does Brazil’s Sector Structure Explain Its Productivity Anemia?
    Authors
    Otaviano Canuto
    Fernanda De Negri
    June 20, 2017
    Brazil’s labor and total-factor productivity (TFP) have featured anemic increases in the last decades (Canuto, 2016). As we illustrate here, contrary to common view, sector structures of the Brazilian GDP and employment cannot be singled out as major determinants of productivity performance. Horizontal, cross-sector factors hampering productivity increases seem to carry more weight. Brazil’s productivity performance has been dismal Since the end of the 1970s, the Brazilian labor p ...
  • Download PDF
    Defense, Time For Necessary Adjustments
    Authors
    Rachid El Houdaigui
    June 14, 2017
    The debate on defense is more relevant than ever in an evolving global context that is driven by the constant reconfiguration of geostrategic equilibriums and by the importance of the impacts of the economic and financial crisis on States’ budgets leading to pertinent questions such as: will defense policies be adapted to their future tasks? Will the military leaders’ strategists have sufficient means to effectively negotiate the adaptation process? In addition to the modernization ...
  • Download PDF
    La défense à l'heure des adaptations nécessaires
    Authors
    Rachid El Houdaigui
    June 14, 2017
    Le débat sur la défense est plus que jamais d’actualité dans un contexte mondial évolutif animé par la reconfiguration continue des équilibres géostratégiques et par le poids des conséquences de la crise économique et financière sur le budget des Etats : les politiques de défense seront-elles adaptées à leurs taches de demain ? Les stratèges des Etatsmajors auront-ils les moyens suffisants pour négocier efficacement le processus d’adaptation ? Outre la modernisation des systèmes d’a ...
  • Download PDF
    Africa and global commodity markets: from cyclical realities to structural
    Authors
    Yves Jégourel
    June 9, 2017
    In June 2017, the second Annual Report on Commodity Analytics and Dynamics In Africa (Arcadia report) was published, in collaboration between the OCP Policy Center and CyclOpe. Its aim is to annually report on the evolution of the economic, legal, financial and societal links between Africa and the world commodity markets, both with regard to the cyclical changes in the markets, and to the structural changes or failures that may have emerged. Focusing on 2016 and early 2017, the Arc ...
  • Download PDF
    L’Afrique et les marchés mondiaux de matières premières : des réalités conjoncturelles aux défis structurels
    Authors
    Yves Jégourel
    June 9, 2017
    En juin 2017 est paru le deuxième rapport Arcadia (Annual Report on Commodity Analytics and Dynamics In Africa), fruit de la collaboration entre l’OCP Policy Center et CyclOpe. Son ambition est de rendre compte, année après année, de l’évolution des liens économiques, juridiques, financiers et sociétaux qui unissent l’Afrique et les marchés mondiaux de matières premières et ce, tant au regard des évolutions conjoncturelles des marchés que des mutations ou ruptures structurelles qui ...
  • Download PDF
    Africa and the Global Commodity Markets
    Authors
    Under the direction of
    Philippe Chalmin
    Yves Jégourel
    June 7, 2017
    In 2016, the countenance of Africa emerged slightly reassured. While global growth has remained fairly dull, with sluggish international trade and economic packages on the continent continuing to fail, the rebound of prices for many commodities along with a sustained investment dynamics have somewhat dispersed the threatening clouds that had obscured its economic horizon in 2015. A slight improvement therefore, but which should not make us forget that the macroeconomic performance o ...