Africa’s Odious Debts

How Foreign Loans and Capital Bled a Continent

James Boyce, Léonce Ndikumana

In Africa’s Odious Debts, Boyce and Ndikumana reveal the shocking fact that, contrary to the popular perception of Africa being a drain on the financial resources of the West, the continent is actually a net creditor to the rest of the world. The extent of capital flight from sub-Saharan Africa is remarkable: more than $700 billion in the past four decades. But Africa’s foreign assets remain private and hidden, while its foreign debts are public, owed by the people of Africa through their governments.

More than half of the money borrowed by African governments in recent decades departed in the same year, with a significant portion of it winding up in private accounts at the very banks that provided the loans in the first place. Meanwhile, debt-service payments continue to drain scarce resources from Africa, cutting into funds available for public health and other needs. Controversially, the authors argue that African governments should repudiate these ‘odious debts’ from which their people derived no benefit, and that the international community should assist in this effort.
 

Contents

• Introduction
• 1. Tales from the Shadows of International Finance
• 2. Measuring African Capital Flight
• 3. The Revolving Door
• 4. The Human Costs
• 5. The Way Forward
• Appendix 1: Tables
• Appendix 2: Summary Outcome and Policy Recommendations from the Senior Policy
Seminar on Capital Flight in Sub-Saharan Africa, held in Pretoria, RSA, Nov. 2007.
• Notes
• References

About the Authors

James K. Boyce is professor of economics at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, where he directs the program on development, peacebuilding and the environment at the Political Economy Research Institute. His previous books include Peace and the Public Purse (with Madalene O’Donnell) and Investing in Peace.

Léonce Ndikumana is Professor of economics at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. He served as Director of Operational Policies and Director of Research at the African Development Bank, and Chief of Macroeconomic Analysis at the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA).