Rahel Solomon (RS): Christina I want to start with you, the last four years have been especially turbulent: pandemic, inflation, conflict around the world including on the African continent.
The latest un report found that only 17 per cent of the SDG goals are on track nearly half minimally or moderately progressed while over a third stalled or even regressed.
Secretary General, Ant車nio Guterres said the world is getting a failing grade.
With that Grim assessment, I wonder if you think that accomplishing the SGS by 2030 is still even possible or realistic
Cristina Duarte (CD): Good morning, it's a pleasure to be here in the SG Media Zone.
Yes, we are off track. Everybody is off track from SDG implementation standpoint not only Africa but Africa indeed is off track.
As per some UN data, Africa succeeded in delivering only 12 per cent of the 140 targets.
We need to understand the reasons behind this.
When I say the reasons allow me to say the root causes of this, not the cosmetic ones.
Because if we may be captured by a short-term mindset, we move just to identify the cosmetic reasons. We will be missing the picture.
And from an SDG implementation standpoint there is one piece missing in the equation.
But it is missing in a quite profound way: means of implementation.This is the root cause.
So basically in the case of Africa, the financing for development model is over. It is broken. We need to shift the Paradigm of financing for development in Africa.
Allow me to provide you two figures if you allow very quickly.
So far Africa has undertaken more than 320 debt restructuring process. Have we solved the problem? No.
And I would like just to provide you an example: what happened in 2022 from a financing standpoint.
In 2022 an African country or a set of African countries issue $140 billion in Eurobonds.
In that same year the, let's say, the interest rates average increase 600 bases points and in some cases 18 another bases points.
I used to say a minister of finance goes to bed on Wednesday, sleeps, and when this Minister of Finance wakes up he goes to the office and he finds an additional bill in terms of debt service at $8.4 billion annually.
So something is wrong with all my due respect.
he debt management frameworks are broken and I do believe that from a means of implementation standpoint to address the SDG's root causes in terms of not implementing them, I do believe that we need to stop, reset and restart
Otherwise, we'll be just repeating business as usual.
Allow me to ask everybody what are the root causes from an African standpoint.
Africa does not control its economic flows. Africa does not control its Financial flows.
As I said a couple of days at Colombia University and I believe I repeated in other events around the Summit of the Future, Africa loses $500 billion a year
That same Africa begs for ODA debt suspensions and debt reliefs because Africa does not control its own economic flows.
So we need to understand that when addressing or tackling the means of implementation to put again SDGs implementation in the right track, we need to understand from an African standpoint that domestic resource mobilization should be put in the driver's seat.
Can we acknowledge that before begging for money we need to stop losing money?
And this is a very simple acknowledgement. It is not complicated.
So, domestic resource mobilization is the key to understand and to shift the paradigm of financing for development in Africa.
I'm not saying that domestic resource mobilization will finance everything, [or cover] every financing needs in Africa. No.
This is an accounting approach; this is an arithmetic approach.
But by building strong DRM systems, African countries will increase their policy space.
When they increase their policy space, African countries will be put in a position to decide how to finance its own deficit, how to reshape the risk profile of Africa and consequently taking International Capital markets in a much better position: avoiding $140 billion Eurobonds that put the Minister of Finance at 8 a.m. in the morning with an additional bill of 8.4 billion in terms of debt service.
So something very deep needs to be fixed.
Thank you very much.
RS: Christina I wonder what you think the impact of that type of indebtedness is you think about it even on a personal level if you are up to your eyeballs and cred card dead it's a little hard to make the right decisions not even just right now but moving forward talk to me about what you think the impacts of that might be or your concerns
CD: Your question give me an opportunity.
Allow me to challenge the global narrative on Africa's debt.
We need to challenge it.
Everybody knows and the figures are there, that Africa is in debt distress. You agree with me.
What maybe we might not agree are the reasons that try to explain this debt distress.
And if you notice, the global narrative explains Africa's debt distress by saying that Africa is overindebted. Sorry. No, no.
If we compare, and I don't have time to provide the numbers here but they are in OSAA's knowledge products, Africa is not in an overindebted situation.
This is not the reason that explains the debt distress and goes back to what I said at the beginning
How come Africa can be in debt distress and at the same time losing $500 billion dollars a year can we connect the dots? We need to connect.
So again we go back and we need to understand. African policymakers, UN system, African partners ...
Africa needs to start controlling their economic flows and their financial flows.
Allow me to end with a comparison. In 2022, Africa's public external debt was around $650 billion stock. It is a stock number.
Let's compare with the $500 billion which is a flow number that Africa lose annually.
Can you calculate the payback period ? One year point 2 months and you tell me that Africa is overindebted?
I don't think so.
Thank you.