On the last Friday of August, hundreds gathered at Accra’s Black Star Square for a rally demanding debt cancellation. The event, organized by civil society and trade unions across Africa, capped a three-day conference in Ghana — which has been struggling with debt after defaulting in 2022.
Ghana’s debt ballooned due to heavy borrowing from foreign and domestic markets. Since then, the country has undergone a G20 Common Framework restructuring, which the government approved in June. Since the restructuring, the government has kept up with its repayments, and the country’s currency has somewhat stabilized; however, living costs remain high. Civil society groups are also calling for greater accountability.
Ghana has been subject to International Monetary Fund reform programs 18 times since it gained independence, said Abdulkarim Mohamed, a coordinator at the Economic Governance Platform, a coalition of civil society organizations championing prudent management of public funds, adding that the IMF needs to reassess its programs as they seem not to work.
About the author
Anthony Langat
Anthony Langat is a Kenya-based Devex Contributing Reporter whose work centers on environment, climate change, health, and security. He was part of an International Consortium of Investigative Journalism’s multi-award winning 2015 investigation which unearthed the World Bank’s complacence in the evictions of indigenous people across the world. He has five years’ experience in development and investigative reporting and has been published by Al Jazeera, Mongabay, Us News & World Report, Equal Times, News Deeply, Thomson Reuters Foundation, and Devex among others.
