Secretary-General's Report on the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD)
2024
Unpacking Africa's Debt: Towards a Lasting and Durable Solution
This latest report on Africa’s development, which is based on this year’s Report of the United Nations Secretary-General on the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD), confronts the urgent need to reform Africa’s debt structures, providing a roadmap for African nations to escape the constraints of unsustainable debt, reclaim fiscal space and refocus resources on a sustainable development agenda. In the post-COVID-19 economic landscape, Africa’s debt challenges have become an increasing barrier to development. External debt has climbed to more than $650 billion, and debt servicing costs reached nearly $90 billion in 2024, further limiting investments in critical areas. Over 40 per cent of African countries allocate more funds to debt service than to health—a stark reflection of how debt obligations are undermining Africa’s development goals. The report emphasizes that without substantial financial reforms, African nations face an unsustainable path. Africa’s rich resources should serve as a foundation for growth, yet a complex triple paradox and an inequitable international financial structure are hindering the continent’s progress toward the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Without targeted interventions, the continent’s path to achieving the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the African Union’s Agenda 2063 considerably narrows. This report offers actionable recommendations to help African countries regain financial autonomy, fortify their economies, and invest more directly in their citizens' future.
2023
Solving paradoxes of Africa's development: financing, energy and food systems
The report analyzes three paradoxes relating to financing, energy and food systems, that have hampered development in Africa and their impact as of 2022. African countries are rich in financial and natural resources, yet they suffer debt distress, lack energy access and face high levels of food insecurity. Based on this analysis, the present report provides an assessment of the role of domestic resource mobilization as a game changer, of energy and food systems as drivers and of country systems (under Sustainable Development Goal 16) as enablers of development. It also contains recommendations for undertaking the reforms needed to address the three paradoxes to unlock the continent’s potential to achieve sustainable development.
2022
New Partnership for Africa’s Development: nineteenth consolidated progress report on implementation and international support
Financing for Development in the Era of COVID-19: The Primacy of Domestic Resources Mobilization
While the pandemic has reshaped the financing for development landscape in Africa and exacerbated existing vulnerabilities, it also provides an opportunity for African countries to strengthen domestic resource mobilization to underpin sustainable development financing. Effective domestic resource mobilization is essential in order to obtain the financing required to effectively drive the continent’s economic growth and development in an inclusive and sustainable manner. Increased domestic resource mobilization would also be fundamental to Africa reclaiming its policy space over its development, channelling resources towards productive capacity development and structural transformation and industrialization. However, for domestic resource mobilization to play an effective role in the continent’s sustainable development agenda, fundamental changes in both policy and institutions will be required, including through improving efficiency in public expenditures, strengthening revenue collection, harnessing private savings and the private financial sector for development and stemming illicit financial flows.
2021
New Partnership for Africa’s Development: eighteenth consolidated progress report on implementation and international support
This report (A/75/918) is prepared in response to General Assembly resolution A/74/301 requesting the Secretary-General to submit on an annual basis a comprehensive and action-oriented report on the implementation of the resolution, based on the provision of inputs from Governments, organizations of the United Nations system and other stakeholders in the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD). The present report, which was prepared by the Offce of the Special Adviser on Africa (OSAA), reviews progress in the implementation of four key NEPAD’s priorities that are fundamental to the realization of the 2030 Agenda for sustainable development and the Africa Union Agenda 2063. These are: regional integration; infrastructure development; industrialization; and health in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic.