Nairobi, Kenya | THE INDEPENDENT | African civil society organizations are calling on their governments to collaborate more closely in the push for reforms in the global trade, economic, and finance administration. This comes amidst calls for a landscape on which the developed world and the international lenders can deal with the poorer countries without exploiting them, according to NGO.
For years, the West, including financial institutions like the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank have been accused of making policies that further impoverish nations, exacerbate inequality, and keep the borrowing nations heavily indebted.
Jason Rosario Braganza, the Executive Director, of the African Forum and Network on Debt and Development (AFRODAD), says unless African and other developing regions can “sit on the same table” with the Western world to negotiate debt, the poorer continents will remain under poverty.
This comes as African countries are increasingly becoming indebted with the risk of becoming insolvent because the high cost of debt is leading to more borrowing and the high debt servicing lives are denying citizens quality services by their governments.
According to the African Development Bank, Africa will pay out 163 billion dollars just to service debts in 2024, up sharply from 61 billion in 2010, while 25 African countries are already carrying excess debt or have a high risk of doing so.
The CSO leaders were speaking at a virtual media briefing by SEATINI (the Southern and Eastern Africa Trade Information and Negotiations Institute), Tax Justice Network Africa (TJNA), Africa Forum and Network on Debt and Development (AFRODAD), and Stop the Bleeding Consortium, on the theme: ‘‘Reforming the Global Financial and Economic Architecture.’’ SEATINI Uganda Executive Director, Jane Nalunga, the fight is now to correct a mistake committed 80 years ago when global governance institutions were being established, yet Africa and other poor and developing countries were busy fighting for independence and we therefore not involved.
However, she says, as the world gets more integrated, it is getting worse for the developing world with the World Trade Organisation also being controlled by the developed nations, to the effect of condemning Africa to exporting unprocessed goods.
There have been previous attempts at reforms but these, which include Economic Partnership Agreements, ‘No Competition’ agreements, and the structural adjustment plans of the IMF and World Bank, have in some cases made matters worse. The African countries and other LDCs have an uphill task to push through the reforms because it is a fight between the strongest and the weakest.
Nalunga says even governments of the developed nations have a lot they are losing especially due to illicit practices of multinational corporations as well as the presence of tax havens in some other countries. She says the African Countries should convince these governments to join the fight for the reforms.
The CSOs believe that unless the global financial and economic architecture is reformed fundamentally, there will be no end to the pressing global challenges like climate change, systemic inequality, entrenched gender bias, rising debt levels, and economic and geopolitical tensions. Nalunga also is critical of the rights that international agreements, treaties, and policies give multinationals to the extent of challenging the national laws and policies of the host country.
On her part, Chenai Mukumba, the Executive Director of TJNA, says developing countries have the right to advocate for the reform of the Global Financial Architecture to ensure a collective voice for fair and just policies that work for them. According to her, while the global trade and finance architecture remains greatly tilted against Africa, there is still a role to play by the national governments to mitigate the effects.
She says policies affecting good governance and accountability, for example, are vital for the development of an economy. The CSOs say the affected regions and Africa in particular need clear policies at national, regional, and continental levels for structural transformation in African countries and the global financial architecture must support this shift.
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