African leaders are calling for major reforms to the global financial system, saying current structures make it too difficult and expensive for their countries to access credit needed for development and large-scale investments.
The push came during the Africa Forward Summit in Kenya’s capital, Nairobi, where more than 30 African presidents, deputy presidents and prime ministers met with French President Emmanuel Macron.
The two-day summit marks the first time France has hosted the Africa Forward initiative in an English‑speaking country, a move organisers say reflects a shift in engagement with the continent.
Tackling Africa’s borrowing challenges
African leaders argue that despite strong economic potential, their countries are often seen as high-risk by international lenders. This perception, they say, pushes up borrowing costs, limits access to credit and ultimately slows economic growth.
Kenyan President William Ruto said the problem lies not in lack of money, but in how risk is assessed.
“The issue … is not liquidity. It is risk architecture,” Ruto said during remarks on Tuesday.
Several African leaders are advocating changes to the way risk is calculated, including reforms to credit rating methodologies that they believe unfairly penalise African economies.
Macron backs investment guarantees
President Macron described the summit as evidence of France’s commitment to building a partnership of equals with Africa. He said the Nairobi meeting had helped mobilise 23 billion euros in investments across the continent.
Macron also voiced support for the creation of a first-loss guarantee mechanism for investments in Africa, a proposal aimed at encouraging more private capital to flow into African markets by reducing investor risk.
“We are going to go together to Evian in mid-June to convince the G7 to endorse that,” Macron said.
At Macron’s invitation, President Ruto is set to attend the upcoming G7 summit in Evian‑les‑Bains, France, where he hopes to carry forward proposals discussed in Nairobi.
Credit ratings and debt relief debated
Other solutions under discussion include the establishment of a debt refinancing mechanism by wealthy countries to help heavily indebted nations manage and restructure their obligations.
Meanwhile, major credit rating agencies—S&P Global Ratings, Moody’s and Fitch—have rejected claims of bias against Africa, insisting their ratings are based on globally applied and publicly disclosed criteria.
Shifting France–Africa relations
Beyond finance, the summit also reflects France’s efforts to recalibrate its relationship with Africa, particularly after its influence waned in parts of West Africa, where several governments have expelled French troops and weakened economic ties with Paris.
Alongside political leaders, the Nairobi summit brought together heads of multilateral financial institutions and business executives from across Africa and France, signalling an attempt to deepen economic cooperation at a time of changing geopolitics on the continent.
