Category Archives: Africa & commodities

Restructuring the Debt of African Commodity-Exporters

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April 28, 2023 —  An estimated 61 countries are currently in debt distress or at risk of it, which is almost one third of the membership of the IMF [32% of 190].  The G20’s Common Framework for Debt Treatment is supposed to facilitate debt restructuring for low-income countries.  But it has made only slow progress.

Many of these countries are in Africa.  Chad restructured its debt in 2021, the first to do so under the Common Framework. Zambia defaulted on its foreign debt in 2020, but has so far been unsuccessful in getting its creditors to agree on how to restructure its debt.  Reluctance of China to participate with other creditors in the traditional Paris Club process is a particular problem in the Zambian case.  Ghana, which defaulted on its external debt in December 2022, has apparently been better able to move forward with restructuring.  Rescheduling of the terms of Ethiopia’s debt was delayed by civil war, but may move forward now.  Angola received 3-year debt relief in September 2020, but remains in trouble. read more

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The Ibrahim Prize for African Leadership

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Feb. 13, 2018 — Congratulations to Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, who retired in January 2018 after 12 years as President of Liberia, for winning the Mo Ibrahim Prize for Achievement in African Leadership.  It is for this that the award, which pays $5 million, was originally established.

The Prize is a fascinating experiment.   Some have criticized the fact that in a majority of years nobody has been found worthy.   But I wrote a favorable evaluation in “The Ibrahim Prize for Excellence Among African Leaders,” published in 2014 in the African Policy Journal. read more

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Biggest Bang for the Buck in Charitable Contributions

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Dec. 30, 2017 — Charitable contributions postmarked by year-end (or credit-card-charged online)  are tax deductible. Next year probably not.  So I have tripled my (modest) usual year-end contributions.

I did it mostly by adding GiveWell

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