Africa’s Golden Future, Remarks by IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva at the Africa Forward Summit

IMF News, May 12, 2026

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Africa is described as “the future” and “the next growth engine.”
Key global imbalances constraining Africa’s integration:
- Export-led economies reducing space for Africa to integrate into global supply chains.
- Countries with large deficits absorbing a disproportionately large share of financial resources.
- Demographic imbalance: “between aging and youthful societies, with capital mostly in the first group and growth potential in the second.”

Domestic and international savings priorities:
- “$4 trillion in domestic assets that Africa is underutilizing.”
- Global pools of savings cited: “$126 trillion in global equities, $145 trillion in fixed income.”
Policy and institutional prerequisites to attract global savings:
- Strong institutions and sound policies to create conditions for private sector-led growth.
- Credible macroeconomic policy, decisive steps against corruption, and reforms to “slash red tape” to win investors’ trust.
- Develop deeper, more diversified capital markets.

Trade and integration measures:
- Speed up trade and economic integration.
- “Just eliminating tariff and non-tariff barriers in line with the continental free trade area can increase income per capita by more than 10 percent.”
Governance and regulatory improvements:
- “Closing half the gap vis-à-vis emerging market economies in areas like regulation and governance can raise sub-Saharan Africa’s output by up to 20 percent within a decade.”

Country-level debt guidance:
- “Restructure or reprofile when debt is unsustainable; avoid non-productive borrowing; and shift the balance from debt to equity as much and as quickly as possible.”
International efforts and IMF tools:
- IMF initiatives include the Global Sovereign Debt Roundtable, a new debt playbook for country authorities, the London Alliance, and proactive use of IMF “good offices” to help forge consensus.

Expansion of IMF concessional lending:
- Increased “from $8 billion pre-COVID to $36 billion today.”
- SDR channeling of “$109 billion” enables substantially more concessional lending; “thanks to the SDR channeling we can do more as ODA does less.”
Program design and country ownership:
- IMF “reformed how we do our programs—as a genuine partnership with our members” emphasizing listening, adaptation, and flexibility.
- Examples of supported homegrown reform programs: Benin, Côte d’Ivoire, Egypt, Ethiopia, Ghana, Morocco, Rwanda, Zambia.
Governance and representation reforms:
- “We have established a third African chair at our Board and a strong focus on the continent in our work.”
- Members are “committed to addressing underrepresentation in the 17th quota review.”
- Collaboration with regional institutions: the African Union, the African Development Bank, the Economic Commission for Africa.

Domestic actions for African countries:
- Make better use of domestic savings for growth-enhancing investments.
- Become more attractive to global savings through policy and institutional reforms.
- Speed up trade and economic integration in line with the continental free trade area.
- Deal decisively with debt: restructure/reprofile when unsustainable, avoid non-productive borrowing, shift from debt to equity, and develop capital markets.
- Keep domestic policies “spick and span” to control what countries can influence.
International and partner actions:
- Stepped-up support from Africa’s partners to channel global savings.
- IMF to continue expanding concessional financing and reforms to unlock development partner support and attract private funding.
- Pursue reforms of the international debt architecture to improve sovereign debt treatment and resolution.

Source: Remarks by IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva at the Africa Forward Summit, May 12, 2026.