{"id":189228,"date":"2025-08-31T11:08:38","date_gmt":"2025-08-31T11:08:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/189228\/"},"modified":"2025-08-31T11:08:38","modified_gmt":"2025-08-31T11:08:38","slug":"ato-forson-backs-calls-for-fair-deal-on-africas-1-3-trillion-debt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/189228\/","title":{"rendered":"Ato Forson backs calls for fair deal on Africa’s $1.3 trillion debt"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Dr play video<\/a>Dr Cassiel Ato Forson is the finance minister<\/p>\n

Finance minister Dr Cassiel Ato Forson<\/a> has reiterated the urgent need for a more equitable global response to Africa\u2019s mounting debt crisis, which has now surpassed US$1.3 trillion.<\/p>\n

Speaking in Accra after receiving a petition from the African Regional Organisation of the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC-Africa) in partnership with the Trade Union Congress (TUC) of Ghana, Dr Forson acknowledged the scale of the problem but stressed that outright rejection of debt repayment was not a viable option.<\/p>\n

Africa’s creditors must cancel the continent’s debts \u2013 ITUC-Africa<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

According to him, Africa cannot simply declare a refusal to repay its obligations, adding that what is required is a fairer and more sustainable framework that considers the plight of heavily distressed economies, including Ghana.<\/p>\n

The petition submitted by ITUC-Africa and TUC Ghana called for a total cancellation of Africa\u2019s external debt, arguing that the continent\u2019s huge repayments were undermining social investments, job creation, and poverty reduction efforts.<\/p>\n

Dr Ato Forson welcomed the advocacy push, noting that debt restructuring and relief discussions have gained renewed global attention, particularly as many African economies grapple with the aftershocks of the COVID-19 pandemic, high inflation, and currency depreciation.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are differences between we can\u2019t pay and we won\u2019t pay. We can\u2019t pay means something significant has happened. For example, you saying you will not pay means you have the resources, but you deliberately don\u2019t want to pay. That is debt repudiation, but when you say you cannot pay, it means something significant has happened as to why you cannot pay.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the case of these 23 African countries, their debt service cost has crowded out very important spending, and so if you conduct a critical debt sustainability analysis, they simply cannot pay,\u201d he stated.<\/p>\n

Multilateral lenders must support Africa’s debt restructuring efforts – Ato Forson<\/a><\/p>\n

He emphasised that Ghana, which has been restructuring its own external and domestic debts, serves as a clear example of why the international community must adopt a more humane and inclusive debt resolution mechanism.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

The call for debt relief has been growing louder across the continent, with unions, civil society, and policymakers arguing that without decisive action, Africa risks being trapped in a cycle of unsustainable borrowing and austerity.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"play videoDr Cassiel Ato Forson is the finance minister Finance minister Dr Cassiel Ato Forson has reiterated the…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":189229,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[64,79,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-189228","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-economy","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-economy","10":"tag-united-states","11":"tag-unitedstates","12":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115123067594880353","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/189228","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=189228"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/189228\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/189229"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=189228"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=189228"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=189228"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}