There was a time when Ghana collected the most flattering qualifiers. The performances of this West African country were amazed, stable, democratic and champion, among others, growth on the continent. With the coming to power of President Nana Akufo-Addo, on January 7, 2017, the economy started tore at rates of 6 % to 8 % per year. The Head of State hit the bull’s eye by calling to break with “the image of the begging of Africa”. This former lawyer with a round and jovial face claimed to be able to wean the former Gold Coast (“Côte d’Or”) of international aid.
las, the irruption of COVID-19 inaugurated an era of disillusions. Growth has suddenly decelerated and money raised on the markets began to cost more and more. The difficulties have further aggravated with the repercussions of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict on the world prices of food and energy. Inflation flies away, reaching more than 37 %, while the currency unscrews at full speed: the CEDI has lost more than 40 % against the dollar since the start of the year.
Especially debt, Achilles heel of the Ghanaian economy, is soaring. It now represents almost 80 % of the gross domestic product. An untenable burden that forced the government of Accra to break with its doctrine: three years after having freed itself from the assistance provided by the International Monetary Fund, here it is, for the seventeenth time since independence of the country in 1957, a new aid plan with the institution. “Like a dog defeated in combat, the tail between the legs”, summed up the media joy in a chronicle in the bitter tone published on October 5, during a visit to the funds of the fund.
The Ghanaian deconfitation is so that it worries. First of all because this country so far appeared a model in a region marked by political instability and security risks. Since the establishment of multipartyism thirty years ago, Ghana has experienced eight transparent elections and three peaceful alternations. But the vertiginous price increase and the measures taken to bail out the state’s funds to resent for the resentment of the ruling class as best as possible. With covered words, some observers fear to see a Sri Lankan scenario develop.
Ghana is far from being alone not being able to complete its ends of the month: twenty-two countries on the continent are over-indebted, or about to switch. It must be said that during the pandemic, “the aid granted by multilateral institutions to the poorest countries in the form of the initiative to suspend the debt service was derisory in the face of the scale of the problem” , indicates the World Bank in a recent report.
An admission in the form of a mea culpa? Without a doubt, African countries have paid the high price of the last shocks. Without being the epicenter or being able to count on an international frank solidarity. The consequences are overwhelming: according to the World Bank, sub -Saharan Africa now concentrates 60 % of the poorest on the planet – nearly 390 million people. And the Ghana illustrates how much the most dynamic could not resist this tag of crises.
Other lessons can be learned. “Relatively few people ask themselves the question of why African debts are still coming back,” says Togolese economist Kako Nubukpo in a just published book, a solution for Africa (Odile Jacob, 304 pages, 23.90 euros ). One of the keys, he insists, comes from the fact that “Africa still does not decide to produce what it consumes”, contenting itself with exporting its natural resources without having transformed them. Thus from the Ghanaian economy, too dependent on its raw materials (cocoa, gold, oil) to be truly robust and shared. Work on endogenous development – with or without the help of international donors – appears to be the only way to the emancipation that Cacra legitimately calls for its wishes.