The relationship between IMF financing and Africa is complex and can be described as a “beautiful ugly” one. Every time the International Monetary Fund (IMF) issues a “warning” to Africa, it lands like a concerned parent scolding a wayward child. The latest one, Africa’s debt is sprawling out of control, follows the script. African governments must “exercise caution” in borrowing, tighten fiscal belts, and guard against “rising debt vulnerabilities.” On the surface, it’s sensible. Scratch beneath, and the familiar scent of control wafts up.
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The same institution that once prescribed austerity as a miracle cure for poverty now worries that Africa might overreach. The result? Policy paralysis, slashed budgets, and a deeper groove in the dependency track.
What the continent truly needs isn’t another lecture dressed in sympathy. It needs financial imagination, bold, African-led ways to fund the ambitions we’ve been dreaming about for generations.
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ALSO READ: Africa demands ‘fair international finance architecture’
Let’s talk about the irony first. Yes, debt distress is real. Countries that I do not need to mention have defaulted or restructured billions. But who designed the economic playbook that led us here? For decades, the IMF-World Bank duo pushed a one-size-fits-all model. Borrow externally, privatize state assets, liberalize trade, and minimize public investment, all in the name of “efficiency” and “market discipline. The promised trickle-down never arrived. Instead, we got fragile economies that export raw cobalt, coffee, and cocoa while importing everything from toothpicks to turbines. Infrastructure crumbled, industries never took root, and the growth that did show up was jobless.
Now that African nations are borrowing differently, from China’s Belt and Road, from Gulf sovereign funds, from Eurobond markets, the IMF rediscovers caution. “Unsustainable debt,” they warn, as if sustainability is only about repayment ratios on a spreadsheet. Debt turns toxic when it finances consumption, corruption, or white-elephant projects. But when it builds a 500-megawatt solar farm in the Sahel, a cross-border railway from Mombasa to Kigali, or agro-processing zones that turn cassava into high-fructose syrup, it becomes an investment in sovereignty. The real sin isn’t borrowing; it’s borrowing stupidly.
The deeper issue is who sets the rules. The IMF’s template was forged in post-war Europe, not post-colonial Africa. It worships macroeconomic stability over structural transformation, fiscal restraint over productive risk-taking. It rewards compliance with the orthodoxy, not creativity within discipline. Yet Africa’s moment demands the opposite, bold experimentation inside guardrails we design ourselves. Why must every megaproject start with a sovereign loan denominated in dollars or euros, exposed to currency shocks the moment the Fed sneezes? Take an example, Rwanda is seeking at least $300 million to install new telecom towers in a bid to close the country’s internet coverage gap. Why can’t we securitize the $1 billion in annual tourism revenue, steady, counter-cyclical flows that dwarf conditional borrowing or aid?
Why not tokenize a lithium deposit in Zimbabwe or a geothermal field in Kenya and let a Nigerian pension fund, a South African mutual, and a London-based diaspora investor buy verifiable slices on a blockchain ledger? This isn’t fantasy. It’s finance finally catching up to technology and ambition.
Imagine an African pension fund in Accra issues a Standby Letter of Credit (SBLC) through Ecobank, backed by its own balance sheet and insured by the African Trade Insurance Agency. That SBLC becomes collateral for a 20-year infrastructure loan at 3% instead of 8%. The project, a toll road from Kumasi to Ouagadougou, pays for itself in trade efficiencies and carbon credits. No IMF programme, no structural benchmarks, no sovereignty surrendered. Pair that with diaspora bonds structured as mini-perpetuals, Israel and India have used diaspora bonds to raise significant funds.
Can we jail break? The shackles seem too tight. The perception problem runs deeper than instruments. Global rating agencies treat Africa as a monolith of risk. A default in Lusaka drags down perceptions of creditworthiness in Gaborone, even though Botswana has run surpluses for decades.
Rwanda’s 7% average growth and pristine debt servicing record barely nudge its BBB- ceiling. Time to redesign risk itself. Forget the so called African multilateral banks; AfDB, TDB, or Afreximbank, because they are not economic blocs, like EAC, ECOWAS or AfCFTA that could launch a continental credit-enhancement facility. Member states pool 1% of reserves as first-loss capital; in return, investment-grade projects get wrapped with partial guarantees. The facility issues “Africa Investment Notes” listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange and the new Pan-African Payment and Settlement System. Investors buy in cedis, rand, or shillings; proceeds fund projects verified by African engineers, not foreign consultants.
Rwanda offers the living blueprint. The country’s development model blends ironclad accountability; every minister signs performance contracts, with controlled liberalization and private-sector partnerships. Kigali Innovation City is attracting tech firms with tax breaks tied to local hiring. Major projects are being financed through a mix of concessional loans with flexible term sheets, equity from investment partners, and future landing fees. IMF exposure? Minimal. Growth? 8% average since 2000. Scale that mindset continent-wide.
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Yes, IMF is right about one thing; a debt crisis is brewing. But the answer isn’t in retreating to austerity or waiting for sympathy missions from Washington. The answer is rewiring the financial ecosystem, from extractive to generative, from dependent to self-reliant. Every remittance, every mineral, every dataset is raw material for structured finance. Iron ore mines in Kabale, southwestern Uganda, can be securitized through financial asset securitization; proceeds pre-fund factories in Kenya, closing the loop from ore to steel. A fiber cable landing in Mombasa can issue revenue-backed notes that retire in seven years as data traffic booms.
The 21st century will reward the re-imaginers, not the conformers. Africa’s next leap won’t echo out of IMF boardrooms; it will spark in policy corridors brave enough to redraw the new error of African money map. Sympathy may soothe the moment. Imagination builds the future. It’s time to trade tired tales of dependency for a new doctrine, fiscal creativity with unbreakable accountability. Let Africa borrow smart, invest bold, and innovate without apology because the continent that once taught the world civilization can damn sure teach it how to finance tomorrow.
The writer is a development and alternative financing strategist.
Read the original article on New Times.
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Baobabs are sometimes called “upside-down trees”, because their branches look like roots reaching skywards. Of the eight species of baobab in the world, six are confined to Madagascar, one to northern Australia and one species, Adansonia digitata, is found across the savannah regions of continental Africa.
They’re more than striking trees; they are cornerstones of African ecosystems and livelihoods. They provide fruit, fibre, medicine and shelter for both people and wildlife. But it’s their night-blooming flowers and partnership with tiny nocturnal visitors, like bats and moths, that hold the secrets of their evolution and future survival.
Baobabs have huge white flowers that are visited at night by bats and moths to drink their sweet-tasting nectar. While feeding on the nectar, the flower covers its nocturnal visitors with pollen which they carry to the next flower they visit. This transfers pollen from the male part (anther) of one flower to the female part (stigma) of the next flower.
Read more: Zanzibar’s baobab trees used to be a valued part of society – drone images help prove it
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Without this pollination, the trees would not be able to produce nutritious fruit, which African people have eaten for thousands of years, or seeds to grow the next generation of baobabs.
I’m a baobab ecologist who has studied these trees for 18 years. In my latest research, my team studied 284 baobabs across west (Ghana), east (Kenya), and southern Africa (South Africa, Namibia, Botswana) to see which animals pollinated their flowers. We observed bats and moths for 205 hours, filmed and caught bats to identify them, and collected pollen from their bodies. We also compared the flowers’ shapes, nectar, and scents across the regions.
Read more: Madagascar’s ancient baobab forests are being restored by communities – with a little help from AI
Our study found that the baobabs have different pollinators in different regions and have each adapted their flowers to suit those pollinators.
The baobabs are all genetically the same species, but their floral traits, shape, scent and nectar have evolved to suit the different pollinators in each region.
It takes thousands of years for these changes to happen. This also means the trees are deeply dependent on their relationships with either bats or moths. If these creatures go into a decline because of climate change, the trees might not reproduce. This would endanger not just the baobab species but the web of life that depends on it.
Read more: Baobabs: Africa’s unique trees defy climate challenges, continue to flourish
More research is needed about the animals that are pollinating baobab flowers and how important they are to the survival of baobabs in future.
Safeguarding Africa’s tree of life
Protecting pollinators is more than preserving biodiversity. It safeguards the continuity of one of Africa’s most life-giving trees and the communities rooted in its shade.
For restoration and conservation, one crucial lesson stands out: when selecting baobab seeds and seedlings they must match the pollinators of each region. Flowers emit fragrance and produce volumes of nectar suitable for their pollinators. If flowers fail to attract the proper visitors, they cannot produce fruit or seeds. For example, a baobab tree that is adapted to bats may not thrive where only moths remain.
Read more: Baobab is a superfood with growing global demand – that’s bad news for the sacred African tree
This is what we found:
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Secrets of flower form, nectar and scent
We also analysed the flowers and found a range of differences that mirror the feeding styles of bats and moths:
Shape: In bat regions, petals fold back. This makes space for the bats to land or hang on the flowers. In moth regions, petals droop, encouraging close contact and effective pollen transfer.
Read more: Baobabs: Africa’s unique trees defy climate challenges, continue to flourish
The length of the peduncle (the stalk that attaches the flower, and later the fruit, to the branch): Flowers on west African baobabs have long stalks that suit large bats feeding while hanging from branches. In east Africa, shorter stalks reduce wobbling when smaller bats land directly on flowers.
Nectar: Large bats encouraged the development of nectar-rich flowers in west Africa. East African flowers produce less nectar for smaller bats, and southern African baobab flowers provide only drops of nectar, just enough for moths.
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Read more: Baobab trees all come from Madagascar — new study reveals that their seeds and seedlings floated to mainland Africa and all the way to Australia
Stigma position: In southern Africa, some flowers have short and wide stigmas – the part of the female reproductive organ which receives the pollen before it is transferred to the ovary buried below the stamen ball. This is unlike the fully protruding stigmas of west and east African baobab flowers that are visited by bats. For moths, this positioning increases the chance that they brush against the flower’s reproductive parts, forcing them to pollinate the flower.
Scent: Baobabs across Africa release unusual sulphur-like compounds that draw bats, but southern African flowers emit sweeter-smelling scent, making them appealing to moths instead.
Our future rests on wings
Birds, bees and beetles do not pollinate baobab flowers, so baobabs rely on moths and bats for survival. Baobab trees can cope with a wide range of environmental and climatic conditions. But bats and moths may be more susceptible to climate change.
Our research shows that even giants depend on delicate partnerships, in this case, with the smallest of night-time visitors. Protecting these pollinators means protecting the baobabs themselves, and with them, the communities and ecosystems that depend on them.
Sarah Venter, Baobab Ecologist, University of the Witwatersrand
This article is republished from The Conversation Africa under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
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The UN High Commissioner for Refugees appealed on Thursday for more solutions to address forced displacement in his final address to the General Assembly.
Filippo Grandi reported that for the first time in nearly a decade, the number of refugees and other people fleeing war, violence and persecution, has decreased – from 123 million at the end of 2024 to about 117 million today.
“This may seem surprising. Because the world has not become safer – on the contrary,” he said, pointing to conflicts in places such as Sudan, Gaza, Ukraine and Myanmar.
Voluntary return crucial
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The “unexpected decrease” has largely been driven by returns to places of origin, mainly Syria and Afghanistan. Most were voluntary, despite continued fragility in these locations.
“The voluntary nature of returns is an important distinction which statistics cannot always capture, as the decrease in the total number of forcibly displaced people also accounts unfortunately for returns that were not voluntary,” said Mr. Grandi.
The return of displaced Syrians “illustrates very clearly the dynamic of voluntariness,” he told ambassadors.
More than a million refugees have come back since the fall of the Assad regime in December 2024, while some two million people inside Syria have returned to communities of origin.
Greater support for Syria
Mr. Grandi stressed the need to support Syria, where teams from his refugee agency, UNHCR, are on the ground providing cash assistance, shelter rehabilitation, documentation and other services to meet immediate needs.
“But much more is needed,” he said. “The international community, and especially donors in the Gulf region and Europe and the international financial institutions, must step up their support in building infrastructure, restoring services, reforming the security sector, restarting the economy.”
Forced returns to Afghanistan
The situation of Afghans, particularly those forced to return from Iran and Pakistan, has been the other driver of lower displacement figures.
The two countries have hosted Afghan refugees for decades, who received access to services “practically on par with nationals.” Furthermore, generations of these refugees, especially women, were educated in local schools.
“But the recent waves of forced returns to Afghanistan deny many Afghan refugees the protection they need, forcing them back to an environment where human rights violations and discrimination are widespread — especially against women,” he remarked.
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Protection and opportunities
Mr. Grandi explained that forced displacement is “a complex phenomenon” as “people may flee a country at the same time as others return to it,” which is the case in both Sudan and South Sudan.
Response is also “a complex challenge”, however “the solution does not lie in restrictions, barriers and pushbacks”.
He suggested that “it is more strategic to look at entire displacement routes and identify measures that provide protection and opportunities to people on the move, and their hosts, as early as possible — before people cross several borders.”
Financial shortfall
Mr. Grandi is leaving UNHCR in the coming weeks “after 10 challenging yet fascinating years.”
Before concluding his remarks, he addressed how the “drastic and sudden reductions in financing” this year have had an impact on the agency and the entire humanitarian sector.
UNHCR faces a $1.3 billion shortfall and expects to receive less than $4 billion this year, out of a budget of $10.6 billion.
He urged donors to help “bridge the gap” and make early flexible pledges for 2026.
Read the original article on UN News.
AllAfrica publishes around 600 reports a day from more than 110 news organizations and over 500 other institutions and individuals, representing a diversity of positions on every topic. We publish news and views ranging from vigorous opponents of governments to government publications and spokespersons. Publishers named above each report are responsible for their own content, which AllAfrica does not have the legal right to edit or correct.
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