FINANCING AFRICA FORWARD
The high cost of capital for African borrowers draws vital resources away from human development and into excessive interest payments.
Financing Africa Forward (FAF) is a coalition of governments, financial institutions, and researchers working to dismantle this systemic mispricing. We are building the empirical truth infrastructure that empowers sovereign governments to engage global capital markets on their own structural terms.
Sovereign rating methodologies currently rely heavily on subjective qualitative scores rather than objective performance data. Across the continent, sovereigns, infrastructure projects, and high-performing domestic institutions are systematically charged more for capital not because of underlying economic fundamentals, but because of entrenched risk perception. This is not merely a transactional friction; it is a systemic misalignment. The true cost is measured in missed opportunity: every surplus paid in interest systematically strips away the capital essential for funding African infrastructure, health, education, climate resilience, and economic advancement.
This figure represents the annual cost imposed on African countries in excess financing penalties because global capital markets evaluate the continent based on risk perception rather than objective, empirical performance.
This is the annual interest penalty that African sovereign Eurobond issuers are forced to pay as a direct result of biased and subjective media stereotyping, as revealed in Africa Practice’s research with Africa No Filter.
African governments frequently face borrowing costs on international capital markets that are up to 500% higher than the rates they would secure from Multilateral Development Banks.
Despite the prevailing global narrative of high risk, the historical default rate on African infrastructure projects remains remarkably low at 5.5%, compared with 11.9% in Asia and 14.5% in Latin America.
This is the foundational mandate of our coalition, born from the inaugural Financing Africa Forward Summit in Johannesburg and formally adopted as a B20 Legacy Initiative. Rather than offering another theoretical diagnosis, this document provides a concrete, African-led roadmap detailing eleven specific, actionable initiatives across four strategic pillars. Read the Blueprint to discover exactly how we are moving beyond dialogue to actively dismantle the Africa Risk Premium and unlock the capital necessary for the continent’s development.
Financing Africa Forward’s (FAF) Blueprint for Action sets out 11 initiatives across four areas:
Strengthening sovereign investor relations and equipping finance ministries with practical tools to engage more effectively with rating agencies and global creditors.
Improving the efficiency of blended finance, debt restructuring and domestic capital mobilisation through practical frameworks, tools and coordination.
Building the Risk-Return Data Hub and research infrastructure needed to replace assumptions about African risk with credible, empirical evidence.
Translating evidence into targeted advocacy, investor engagement and financial media campaigns that shift perceptions and influence capital allocation.
The high cost of capital is a solvable crisis rooted in outdated narratives, data gaps, and fragmented government engagement. We are actively addressing these structural barriers through direct, evidence-based interventions.
Every stakeholder has a crucial role to play in Financing Africa Forward. Dismantling the $74.5 billion penalty on African development requires more than outrage; it requires a shared empirical truth infrastructure. Complete the form to access tailored resources, explore partnership opportunities, or subscribe to our updates.
