By Collins Mwai
The rising debt level in Africa is increasingly becoming a topical issue.
However, there’s divided opinion on whether the rising debt levels are a real threat or an alarm fueled by myths and misinformation.
The average public debt on the continent rose to 45 percent of GDP at the end of 2017 from 29.1 percent in 2013.
Globally, the developed countries’ debt level average stands at around 266 percent while emerging markets’ average is around 168 percent.
Nineteen countries on the African continent are above 60 percent threshold set by the African Monetary Co-operation Programme.
Labels such as ‘sinking in debt’ and ‘debt-ridden’ have, as a result, become common in reference to Africa.
Some experts argue that thresholds and targets around debts only serve to raise alarm and are often not relevant to the specific social-economic context of countries.
Rather than look at thresholds, the argument is that stakeholders ought to look at debt repayment capacity…Read more>>
