Ghanaian president calls for continental financial reforms as fiscal pressures mount

With Africa's macroeconomic environment strained by structural vulnerabilities, rising debt-service burdens, shrinking fiscal space, and uncertain concessional financing, John Dramani Mahama, president of Ghana, has urged African heads of state to urgently implement reforms to strengthen the continent's financial architecture.

He emphasized that accelerating continental financial reforms is critical for enhancing economic resilience, reducing dependence on external financing, deepening domestic capital markets, and mobilizing sustainable resources for inclusive growth and development.

"Africa's financial architecture cannot remain aspirational, while global financial conditions are becoming increasingly restrictive," Mahama said. "If implementation continues to lack the credibility of our Agenda 2063 flagship projects will weaken."

He called for the adoption of the African Monetary Institute or AMI statute and strict adherence to its September timeline. The AMI, planned AU institute, is intended to advance the continent's monetary integration.

"I further appeal to member states to allocate the necessary resources through their central banks to ensure that the AMI has sufficient funding to commence operations," Mahama said.

The president also urged the ratification of the African Investment Bank, adopted in 2009 to mobilize long-term capital for infrastructure, industrial development, and transformative projects. To date, only six member states have ratified it.

Additionally, Mahama called on the AU Commission to refine studies on the technical issues surrounding the implementation of the Alliance of African Multilateral Finance Institutions or AAMFI.

These efforts compliment efforts to operationalize the African Monetary Fund, a key instrument for balance-of-payment support, macroeconomic stabilization, and regional crisis management.

Francisca Tatchouop Belobe, the AU commissioner for economic development, trade, tourism, industry, and minerals, highlighted the urgency of revising Africa's institutional frameworks to maximize development gains in the current geopolitical landscape.

"Africans cannot remain passive, hoping for salvation from elsewhere. We need to look inward," Belobe said. "We have a historic opportunity to move from the periphery of global finance to its center by shaping our own development architecture to address Africa's financing gap and realize Agenda 2063."

Belobe noted that through AAMFI, African financial institutions could jointly prepare and originate bankable projects, coordinate co-financing and syndications, as well as deploy risk-sharing instruments.

"This is critical in ensuring that African financial institutions are no longer passive financiers, but rather active market makers," she said.