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Invest 30% of Reserves in Continental Financial Institutions- Akufo Addo Urges African Nations
Ghana’s former president, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, has called on African nations to commit 30 per cent of their sovereign reserves to multilateral financial institutions within the continent. According to him, such a move would significantly strengthen homegrown development banks like the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) and the African Development Bank (AfDB), enabling them to better address Africa’s infrastructure and financing needs.
Speaking on Friday, June 27, during a high-level panel featuring former African heads of state at the 2025 Afreximbank Annual Meetings in Nigeria, Akufo-Addo revisited a proposal he first introduced during his tenure as Ghana’s president and as the AU’s champion for the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).
“The institutions we need to drive our development are not in our hands,” he said. “If we don’t control our financial institutions, we cannot sustainably fund our development.”
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Akufo-Addo decried the current trend of African countries holding their reserves in foreign banks—often at negative real interest rates—while struggling to finance key development projects at home. He argued that channelling reserves into Africa-owned institutions would promote financial sovereignty and offer greater flexibility in responding to the continent’s needs.
“We have to put our mouth where our thoughts are,” he charged. “Let’s make the decisions that will enable us to resolve our problems. We can’t do it just by talking.”
The former president also renewed calls for the urgent operationalisation of long-proposed institutions such as the African Central Bank, African Investment Bank, and African Monetary Fund—pillars of the African Union’s Agenda 2063 vision.
He criticised the delay in establishing these bodies, describing it as a major impediment to Africa’s ambition for financial autonomy and collective growth.
Highlighting the importance of Afreximbank’s role, Akufo-Addo pointed to the bank’s recent $750 million facility to Ghana, provided at a time when the country was cut off from international capital markets.
“That support was a lifeline, and it proves that African institutions, when empowered, can be decisive players in our economic future.”
Akufo-Addo’s remarks come at a time when many African economies face mounting debt pressures, limited access to affordable credit, and the urgency of financing climate resilience, infrastructure, and industrialisation.
His call to action underscores the need for bolder financial strategies and deeper intra-African cooperation, with the former president urging leaders to move beyond rhetoric and take concrete steps to reclaim the continent’s economic destiny.
“This is not just about development. It’s about ownership—about taking control of our future,” he concluded.
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