Back

Interview with Ugo Panizza, Graduate Institute (IHEID) of Geneva, on Dept Sustainability in Africa

October 11, 2019
Related topics: 
Economy
Africa

Questions : 1/ What are the adequate investments that should be financed by debt and why? 2/ What are the best ways to maintain debt sustainability? 3/ Does China represent a risk for the future of debt sustainability in Sub-Sahran Africa ?

Speakers
Ugo Panizza
Professor of International Economics at the Graduate Institute Geneva (IHEID) and Director of the Institute’s Centre for Finance and Development
Ugo Panizza is Professor of International Economics at the Graduate Institute Geneva (IHEID) and Director of the Institute’s Centre for Finance and Development. Ugo Panizza has been a Visiting Professor at the Institute since 2008, a position he held in addition to being the Chief of the Debt and Finance Analysis Unit at the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development. He is the Director of the Center for Finance and Development, Director of the International Centre for Monetary and Banking Studies (ICMB), Vice President and Fellow of CEPR, Fellow of the Fondazione Einaudi, and Editor of International Development Policy. Previously, he worked at the Inter-American Development Bank and the World Bank, alongside holding teaching and research posts at the American Un ...

RELATED CONTENT

  • Beyond Hormuz: Nigeria as Africa's Oil Contingency Plan
    By Abla Zidani & Loubna Edallal
    October 09, 2026
    Can Nigeria’s Dangote refinery help strengthen Africa’s energy security amid disruptions to global supply routes? This discussion considers how expanding local refining capacity can reduc ...
  • Download PDF
    The ‘Strategic Possibilities Frontier’ of Global Reconfiguration
    Authors
    Paul Isbell
    October 9, 2026
    In the first seven Policy Briefs of this ongoing series of analysis on Pan-Atlanticism: The Atlantic Basin in a Multipolar-Transnational World, we developed the argument that the strategic significance of the Atlantic Basin is on the rise for a range of international actors (states, regions and non-state agents) and from distinct political or ideological perspectives. In addition, in the most recently published Policy Brief -- “The U.S. and the Current International Reconfiguration: ...
  • Between Brain Drain and Brain Gain: The Role of Public Guidance Policies for Moroccan International Students
    Authors
    Aomar Ibourk
    Tayeb Ghazi
    October 8, 2026
    This paper was originaly published on Higher Education Policy Journal This article critically assesses the alignment between Morocco’s public guidance schemes for international students and its national development goals. Specifically, it investigates the capacity of these mechanisms to transform student mobility from a potential ‘brain drain’ into a tangible ‘brain gain’. Employing a qualitative case study approach, we conducted a systematic content analysis of 204 mobili ...
  • From Solidarity to Capability: Rethinking South-South Cooperation for Africa’s Economic Transformation
    Authors
    Marie-Noelle Nwokolo
    October 6, 2026
    The author of this opinion, Marie-Noelle Nwokolo, is a 2024 alumna of the Atlantic Dialogues Emerging Leaders Program.In September 1978, delegations from 138 countries gathered in Buenos Aires, Argentina, around a powerful idea: developing countries had knowledge, experience and capabilities worth sharing with one another. The Buenos Aires Plan of Action gave institutional form to what we now call South-South Cooperation, part of a wider post-colonial effort by developing ...
  • Cameroun : le pari de l’industrialisation minière
    Authors
    Loubna Eddallal
    October 2, 2026
    Le Cameroun dispose d'importants gisements de minerais, notamment de fer, de la bauxite, d'or, de cobalt, de nickel, de manganèse, de calcaire, de marbre, de diamants, entre autres. L'industrie minière du pays est restée dominée par l'exploitation artisanale et à petite échelle, en particulier l'orpaillage, tandis que les hydrocarbures ont représenté l'essentiel des recettes issues des industries extractives. Le pays cristallise ainsi le paradoxe africain : malgré l’ampleur et la di ...
  • Download PDF
    Historic Aid Cuts: How is Africa Reacting?
    Authors
    Otaviano Canuto
    Hafez Ghanem
    Karim El Aynaoui
    September 28, 2026
    This paper was initially published in French on the website of the Fondation Jean-Jaurès. There was a historic decline in Official Development Assistance (ODA) in 2025. Foreign aid to developing countries from members of the OECD-DAC fell by some 23%, the largest decline on record and the second consecutive annual decline. Aid to Africa fell by more than 25%. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) described this decline in ODA to Africa as “a shock like no other.” It differ ...
  • Africafé : L’Atlantique africain, vers un panafricanisme par la mer
    September 25, 2026
    Dans cet épisode d’Africafé, Amadou Diop analyse les défis de sécurité maritime auxquels font face les pays de l’Afrique atlantique, de la piraterie aux trafics transfrontaliers. Il souligne la nécessité de mutualiser les moyens et de partager l’information entre États. L’échange aborde...
  • Download PDF
    How to Negotiate an Industrial Policy Under AFCFTA : Architecture, Coherence, and the Governance Challenge
    Authors
    Luladay Berhanu Mengistie
    Guillaume Gérout Suominen
    September 21, 2026
    The African Union Summit of February 2026 instructed the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Council of Ministers to negotiate a Protocol on Industrial Policy and Development. This work, handled without adequate preparation, is likely to reproduce the weaknesses it is meant to remedy. This paper is a conceptual mapping exercise, written to raise the preparatory questions before drafting begins, rather than to prescribe outcomes.It proceeds in five sections:1. It works towar ...