Former President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has described the debt restructuring program undertaken by his administration as the darkest and most painful moment of his presidency. According to the former President the move under the G20 Common Framework left deep scars on citizens and the economy despite offering temporary relief.
The Domestic Debt Exchange Program created disaffection among many investors including pensioners who constantly picketed at the finance ministry.
Addressing the AU-EU High-Level Seminar in Brussels on Thursday, October 2, 2025,Akufo-Addo reflected on the hardships the policy brought onto many revealing the development “troubled and still troubles” him.
“I witnessed the suffocating grip of debt on our economy and on our citizens. This deeply troubled me and still does,” He said
Akufo-Addo told the gathering Ghana’s decision to adopt the Common Framework in 2023 came at a heavy cost with messy negotiations which resulted in economic uncertainties. The development according to him eroded investor confidence.
“The process was sequential, not simultaneous. It prolonged uncertainty. It eroded investor confidence. And it inflicted a heavy cost at home that was a dark cloud moment for me as President,” he conceded.
Akufo-Addo related to the impact of the DDEP on ordinary citizens. Domestic bondholders—pensioners, small investors, and young professionals—were hardest hit, losing their savings and investments as part of the restructuring exercise.
“These were people whose lives and livelihoods were shattered in the process,” he lamented.
Ghana restructured $13 billion worth of Eurobonds and secured $10.5 billion in external debt service relief in 2023 through 2026. The deal helped bring the country’s debt-to-GDP ratio down from the mid-80s to 70.5%, restored some investor confidence, and anchored an IMF-supported programme.
But Akufo-Addo stressed that behind the macroeconomic gains lay “immense human pain.”
Continental Debt
The former President on the debt plaguing Africa argued that the continent’s staggering $1 trillion debt burden reflects a global financial system designed “not to free us, but to bind us.”
According to him more than 30 African countries now spend more on debt servicing than on public health.
“Every dollar diverted to creditors is a dollar taken from a hospital, from a child’s vaccination, from a community’s future. This is not economics, it is inequity,” he told the gathering.
The former President once again called for bold reforms of the international financial system, urging immediate debt service suspension, comprehensive restructuring, and new concessional financing.
“Debt relief for Africa is not an act of generosity. It is an act of justice,” he declared.
The former President proposed linking debt cancellation to climate resilience through a “Debt Relief for Green Investment and Resilience” framework.
He argued that although Africa contributes less than 4 per cent of global emissions, the continent remains among the hardest hit by climate shocks. Reparations for climate damages, he said, run into trillions of dollars.
“To our European partners, I say this: hear the voice of your neighboring continent. Stand with the AU and South Africa’s G20 Presidency to advance ambitious reform of the Common Framework,” Akufo-Addo pleaded.
“Without global reforms, even the most courageous local changes will be undone by predatory lending and punitive trade terms,” he cautioned.
“The sacrifices we make today, the compromises, the collaborations we engage in today can only inure to the benefit of our world. When Africa rises free from the weight of debt, the whole world rises with it,” Akufo-Addo concluded.
