As Group of Seven leaders meet this week in Hiroshima, Japan, concerted action to prioritize an African debt relief response from the international community can send a message that, even in a deeply fractured world, Africa will not fall casualty to paralysis and inaction.
It is hard to think of a region where the COVID-19 pandemic, war in Ukraine, food, and climate challenges overlap in a more desperate way, and where budget space to face them is long lost.
The first priority is to decisively tackle the debt burden that hamstrings the region. Although at least 23 countries are in dire need of debt relief in Africa, only four of them requested it. The rest continue paying at the expense of investments in poverty reduction and climate action. This is because we do not have a supportive and predictable debt reduction system for countries in need.
About the author
Alfred Adewale Martins
Most Rev. Alfred Adewale Martins was appointed the first bishop of Abeokuta Diocese in Nigeria in 1997. He was later elevated as archbishop and transferred to the See of Lagos, later becoming the Metropolitan. He studied philosophy for both his master's and doctorate degrees and held several leadership positions in the Nigeria Conference of Catholic Bishops.
