African central bank governors on Tuesday urged the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to adopt faster and more flexible responses to mounting economic pressures on the continent, warning that existing tools are inadequate to address overlapping crises.
Speaking at a meeting of the African Consultative Group in Washington, Governor of the Bank of Ghana, Johnson Pandit Asiama, called for what he described as a “step-change” in the Fund’s approach to debt distress, climate shocks and tightening global financial conditions.
The meeting, held at IMF headquarters and attended by Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva, reflected growing concern among African policymakers that the current pace of international financial support is failing to match the scale of economic challenges facing the region.
“African economies continue to operate in an exceptionally challenging macroeconomic environment,” Asiama said, citing high debt vulnerabilities, limited fiscal space, and repeated external shocks.
He added that these pressures have been exacerbated by spillovers from the Middle East conflict, which have driven up inflation and worsened external balances in many countries.
While acknowledging the IMF’s role in supporting macroeconomic stability, Asiama warned that its existing debt resolution mechanisms and financing tools are often too slow and rigid to respond effectively to current crises.
At the center of his remarks was a call to overhaul the sovereign debt restructuring process, particularly under the Group of 20’s Common Framework.
He urged the IMF to use its convening power more decisively to ensure timely and coordinated debt workouts, with stronger participation from private creditors and clear rules on burden-sharing.
Delays in restructuring, he said, are increasingly becoming a source of economic damage in their own right, prolonging uncertainty, discouraging investment and delaying countries’ return to financial markets.
“Time-bound restructurings anchored in credible comparability of treatment are essential,” Asiama said.
He also called for changes in IMF programme design, arguing that delays caused by creditor coordination failures should not be treated the same as policy slippages by borrowing countries.
Beyond debt restructuring, the Ghanaian central bank chief pressed for reforms to the IMF’s broader policy framework.
He called for a more effective debt sustainability framework for low-income countries, wider use of the Fund’s Integrated Policy Framework, and faster implementation of its “three-pillar approach” for countries already in or at risk of crisis.
Asiama also urged the IMF to make more active use of its balance sheet to support vulnerable economies.
This includes scaling up concessional financing, institutionalizing the reallocation of Special Drawing Rights (SDRs), and making the Resilience and Sustainability Trust more responsive to countries facing both liquidity constraints and climate-related risks.
“Recent shocks have exposed the need for emergency financing that is adequately resourced and readily accessible,” he said, referring to the impact of global conflicts and market disruptions.
His comments reflect a broader push by African policymakers for the IMF to evolve from a cautious crisis manager into a more proactive institution capable of responding to rapid and complex global shocks.
The governor also highlighted the importance of capacity-building support, particularly in areas such as domestic revenue mobilisation, public financial management, debt oversight and financial regulation.
He stressed that strengthening institutional capacity will be critical for improving resilience to emerging risks, including those linked to digital finance, cryptocurrencies and cyber threats.
The intervention comes as many African economies face a difficult combination of rising borrowing costs, slowing global growth and increasing climate-related disruptions.
Analysts say the outcome of ongoing discussions between African policymakers and international financial institutions could shape the continent’s economic trajectory in the coming years, particularly as governments seek to balance fiscal consolidation with growth and social spending needs.
The IMF has yet to formally respond to the latest calls, but the issue of debt restructuring and crisis financing is expected to remain high on the agenda of global economic discussions.
