President John Dramani Mahama has called for measures to reduce borrowing costs for African countries, urging the continent to strengthen its financial institutions and invest more of its foreign reserves within Africa.

The President made the remarks during a meeting with the Chairperson of the African Union Commission (AUC), H.E. Mahmoud Ali Youssouf, as Ghana prepares to assume the rotating chairmanship of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) in 2027.Ghana Showbiz News

Outlining Ghana’s priorities for its ECOWAS tenure, President Mahama said Africa’s financial institutions must play a greater role in providing affordable credit to member states.

“We also are the champions on African financial institutions, and we think that there’s still more room for our financial institutions to take up the important role of providing lower-cost credit to African countries. Currently, we have to borrow at high interest rates, and our countries are least able to afford it,” he said.

President Mahama proposed that African countries channel a portion of their foreign reserves back into the continent to finance development at lower interest rates.

“We should find ways of lowering the cost of borrowing, and one of the suggestions we’ve been advocating is bringing some of the foreign reserves of African countries back into the continent and lending it to ourselves at lower interest rates,” he added.He said the proposal would help reduce dependence on expensive external borrowing and improve access to affordable financing for African economies.