African Countries Hope To Secure Badly Needed Lending In Paris

African and European leaders, as well as heads of multilateral lenders and institutions, are set to meet in Paris on Tuesday to try to find new solutions to financing Africa’s development needs.

The meet tagged “Summit on Financing African Economies” will be hosted by French President Emmanuel Macron who is calling for a “New Deal for financing Africa”.

The International Monetary Fund has projected that Africa was likely to face a financing gap of 290 billion dollars by 2023.

Although the continent experienced its first recession in half a century last year (-2.1%), growth is expected to rebound by 3.4% in 2021 and 4% in 2022.

He made the statement at the end of April saying Africa should not be abandoned to solutions that date back to the 1960s”, warning against the risk of a boomerang effect, between “reduced economic opportunities”, “forced migration” and “expansion of terrorism”.

A pause on public debt servicing introduced in April 2020 at the initiative of the Paris Club and the G20 after the stress caused by the pandemic has also provided some breathing space for developing countries, by suspending some 5.7 billion euros in interest payments.

China, Africa’s largest bilateral creditor, has provided at least $10.7 billion in global debt relief in 2020 and 2021.

However, Economic Experts in Africa continue to warn on Africa’s rising Debt profile and the Debt-trap Diplomacy of Lender Nations which continue to use the loans to gain leverage over the borrower.