South Africa Refuses to Join Other African Nations on Debt Relief Talks

South Africa Says is Not Joining Debt Relief to for African Nations

South Africa, Africa’s second-largest economy, has said it won’t be joining the collective discussion to write-off or suspend African nations’ debt.

Trevor Manuel, a South African envoy to the African Union and former finance minister, made the country’s position clear while saying South Africa’s situation is complex as most of the nation’s debt is held locally.

Manuel said, “The bulk of the debt is actually held by South African pension funds.”

“Once you enter into these kinds of agreements you might actually be compelled to say to South African pension funds, we are sorry but [we] can’t deal with your pensions.”

This is coming after African Finance Ministers called for debt relief or moratorium for the continent to protect about 30 million jobs and support the rebuilding of African nations following negative impacts of COVID-19 on the economy.

In April, the World Bank said the Sub-Saharan African region will contract by 2.1 percent in 2020, its first contraction in 25 years.

In Nigeria, the Ministry of Finance predicted a 3.4 percent decline in 2020, the same number predicted by the International Monetary Fund.

This is largely because of the drop in the nation’s revenue generation, business activities, oil prices, consumer spending and new job creation.