Accra: Africa is pushing for reforms to the global financial architecture to improve access to affordable finance, support economic transformation, and create jobs. The reforms seek to address debt restructuring, climate finance, concessional financing, digital development, and the mobilisation of domestic capital to support the continent's development needs.
According to Ghana News Agency, Ms. Mavis Owusu-Gyamfi, President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the African Centre for Economic Transformation (ACET), stated that the global financial system was not adequately supporting Africa's economic and development ambitions. She emphasized that the Future of Development Cooperation Coalition (FDCC) and ACET were working to ensure Africa's priorities are reflected in global financial policy discussions and outcomes.
The continent is advocating for a faster, more predictable, and fairer debt restructuring system while calling for climate adaptation to be better integrated into development finance. Africa is also seeking global cooperation to ensure that artificial intelligence (AI) and the digital revolution do not widen the digital divide, while creating opportunities for African countries to mobilise domestic capital from pension funds, insurance, sovereign wealth, and capital markets.
The FDCC, a multi-governmental and stakeholder institution, alongside ACET, is championing the initiative to reform the global financial architecture to better support development in Africa. The blueprint was outlined in Accra during an exclusive interview with the Ghana News Agency with co-chairs and members of the Coalition on the sidelines of its third Commissioners' Meeting.
Africa is leveraging its representation on the Coalition to channel recommendations to the G20 Common Framework, International Monetary Fund (IMF), World Bank, private creditors, and African development institutions. Ms. Owusu-Gyamfi noted that debt remains a crucial instrument for economic growth, but the existing restructuring framework is not delivering the speed and predictability required by African and other developing economies.
Ms. Alexia Latortue, Head of the Coalition Secretariat and a former US Treasury Assistant Secretary, called for expanded concessional financing windows to support Africa's infrastructure, climate, and energy-access needs. On AI and the digital revolution, she urged global development institutions to prevent these advancements from deepening the digital divide but instead enable Africa to keep pace and leapfrog.
Ms. Clemence Landers, Vice President and Senior Policy Fellow at the Centre for Global Development (CGD), highlighted Africa's readiness to finance critical sectors such as health, education, farmer support, and roads from domestic resources. She pointed out that the push for a reset in the global financial architecture is driven by a severe external financing squeeze, including a 25% decline in Official Development Assistance (ODA) following political shifts in traditional donor countries.
Ms. Landers remarked that many African countries have strengthened their macroeconomic positions, built buffers, and increased foreign exchange reserves, and deepened domestic capital markets despite the financing constraints. This resilience is now informing Africa's demand that the global system transition from an aid-centric model to one that recognizes trade, domestic capital, risk perceptions, and affordable finance as core to transformation and job creation.