“It is going to be a debt observatory to enable us monitor the debt situations. We intend to have real-time data with respect to debt management around the countries of Africa,” Muchanga said without specifying timelines. Prof Kevin Urama, AfDB’s acting chief economist, said debt is not in itself bad but noted that Africa had taken on “bad debts.”“If you look at the quantity of debt on the continent, compared to the quantity of debt in other countries, Africa is not really heavily indebted. Targeting agricultureThe bank and its partners have recently launched a programme to improve food productivity on the continent. That tells you that Africa should be the food basket of the world, not a net importer of food,” he said.

Source: Daily Nation February 19, 2023 05:02 UTC