ADDIS ABABA, April 18 (Xinhua) -- Africa is off track to meet the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) although it exhibits remarkable resilience against a series of shocks that it has not created, Claver Gatete, executive secretary of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) has said.
Poverty and hunger have been rising over the past five years across the continent amid increasing debt, financial and climate challenges, Gatete was quoted by a UNECA statement as saying on Wednesday.
"We have seen debt levels increase by over 180 percent since 2010. For Africa as a whole, public debt now amounts to 66 percent of GDP and high repayment costs are crowding out essential expenditures on health, education and climate action," he said.
He said despite a projected growth of 3.5 percent in 2024, up from 2.8 percent in 2023, growth is not high enough for the continent to fulfill the goals of Agenda 2063.
The executive secretary partly linked the limited growth to global shocks, disrupted supply chains, eroded fiscal space and reduced access to finance.
Recalling that 21 African countries are at high risk of, or in, debt distress, Gatete said only two have their credit ratings in the investment grade and three countries of the continent have already defaulted on their sovereign bonds.
"A lack of concessional borrowing is leaving African governments to decide whether to borrow at national level and crowd out the private sector or borrow externally and deal with the challenges of foreign exchanges and exchange rate fluctuations," Gatete said.
Gatete said the continent needs about three trillion U.S. dollars a year until 2030 in development and financing to reach the SDGs.
Noting that ongoing threats of climate change are reducing the fiscal space, costing governments up to 5 percent of GDP annually, the executive secretary further said infrastructure and climate change are estimated to cost the continent between 68 billion and 108 billion dollars per year.
Based on the latest data, 476 million people in Africa are projected to live in poverty in 2024, he said, expressing his hope that Africa will generate its own solutions as it has resources demanded globally. ■
