South Africa presses for debt transparency and borrower protections

Addressing the General Assembly, Ronald Ozie Lamola said unsustainable debt "betrays the promise of development and destroys the prospects for democracy." He said that in the last year many African countries spent roughly the same amount on servicing debt as was required to close their infrastructure financing gap and called for an end to incrementalism in debt policy.

Lamola urged support for mechanisms to balance creditor power, enhance debt transparency and increase scrutiny of credit rating agencies. He framed these steps as necessary to free resources for the 2030 Agenda and Africa's Union Agenda 2063 (as cited in the transcript), and to support sustainable development rather than permanent debt servicing.