Overview
- ONE Data and The Rockefeller Foundation report that average external borrowing costs for African countries rose 91% between 2020 and 2024.
- ‘Blend’ countries — eligible for both concessional and market-rate World Bank loans — paid the steepest price, missing an estimated $20.8 billion in savings on $40.6 billion of bond issuance.
- Rates climbed across creditor classes, with World Bank IBRD rates for top borrowers rising from about 1.4% to 5.2% and China’s average lending to African countries increasing from roughly 2.5% to 5.7%.
- The squeeze is already visible in Senegal, where the IMF cut its growth forecast and flagged a wider current account deficit as debt service costs rise.
- The report urges multilateral development banks to lend more and move faster, noting G20 capital-adequacy reforms and recent S&P changes could unlock hundreds of billions in new lending even as IDA faces donor-driven funding pressure.