According to U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, heavily indebted African nations are being treated unfairly by the global financial system, which levies “extortionate” interest rates on them.
In order to better effectively meet the requirements of developing nations, the head of the United Nations wants extensive changes made to the way that international financing is structured, he said during the opening ceremony of the annual African Union summit in Ethiopia.
“We require a new debt structure that offers debt forgiveness and restructuring to weaker nations”, he said.
“The global banking system regularly denies debt relief and preferential financing to (poor countries) while demanding exorbitant interest rates”.
Many developing nations experienced debt difficulty as a result of the coronavirus pandemic because they were expected to keep paying their debts in spite of the severe blow to their economy.