Last year’s Group of Twenty (G20) Summit in Johannesburg, the first ever held in Africa, put the continent’s prosperity at the top of the agenda. Accordingly, Africa’s mounting debt crisis featured prominently. Today, many countries on the continent are trapped in a vicious cycle: shocks beyond their borders and domestic economic challenges force higher expenditures despite low revenue, driving increased borrowing amid rising interest rates and falling credit ratings.
But that is just the beginning. As money is paid out to service this debt, it is diverted from social services and the stimulation of economic…