Executive Summary
African leaders face a difficult challenge: fostering development by accumulating debt for future generations to carry, or raising taxes and facing widespread discontent, protests and even risks of democratic instability. Making tangible improvements to their citizens’ lives requires significant investment in infrastructure, health care, education and economic competitiveness, but public resources are constrained by substantial debt-servicing burdens and limited capacity to tax. African citizens want change and African leaders struggle to deliver, overburdened by interest and debt (re)payments.
We propose a path out of the growing debt crisis through a five-pillar plan: a New Debt Deal for Africa. This plan substitutes…
