Debt burden occurs when what a country has to pay back in terms of principal and interest (debt service) takes a significant portion of the country’s export earnings. African debt burden remain heavy accounting for 69 percent of regional GDP.[i] As a result, the servicing of the debt is crushing all possibilities for economic growth by diverting scarce resources needed for clinics, schools, and infrastructure and job-creation schemes to the payment of debt.[ii] According to the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), Africa received some $540 billion in loans between 1970 and 2002; but despite paying back close to $550 billion in principal and interest, it still had a debt stock of $295 billion at the end of 2002.[iii]
[i] Cheru, F. (2002), African Renaissance: Roadmaps to the Challenge of Globalisation. London, Zed Books. P.17
[ii] Ibid
[iii] United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), Culled from Debt Sustainability: Oasis or Mirage published in ThisDay Newspapers, 6 October, 2004. Vol. 10, No. 3453 p.30
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