Ghana’s Bright Simons Joins African Expert Panel on Debt Crisis
Africa’s Debt Crisis Gets Fresh Eyes as Ghana’s Innovation Guru Joins Expert Panel
Ghana’s Bright Simons, founder and president of mPedigree, has been appointed to South Africa’s newly established Africa Expert Panel, tasked with addressing the continent’s growing debt crisis during South Africa’s historic G20 presidency.
The appointment places Simons, known for his innovative work in product verification technology and economic policy analysis, at the forefront of efforts to find solutions to Africa’s debt burden, which now consumes more resources than spending on healthcare, education, and infrastructure combined.
South Africa’s Minister of Finance Enoch Godongwana announced the 23-member panel on Tuesday, which will advise the G20 on Africa-specific economic challenges. This comes at a critical moment when African countries face nearly $89 billion in external debt service payments this year alone.
“The panel represents a significant opportunity to amplify African priorities at the highest level of global economic governance,” said a source close to the deliberations. “Simons brings a unique perspective combining technology entrepreneurship with deep policy expertise.”
The panel, chaired by Trevor Manuel, former South African finance minister and current Chairman of Old Mutual, includes other distinguished figures such as Donald Kaberuka, former president of the African Development Bank, and Esther Duflo, MIT professor and Nobel laureate in economics.
South Africa’s presidency marks the first time the G20 leadership and most of its meetings are being held on African soil. The expert panel will produce a high-level report with recommendations focused on restructuring the continent’s unsustainable debt burden.
More than half of Africa’s 1.3 billion people currently live in countries that spend more on interest payments than on social services, according to the National Treasury statement. Twenty low-income countries are currently at risk of debt distress.
Godongwana expressed confidence that “the insights and expertise of each panel member will assist in shaping Africa’s economic, development and financial engagements within such an international and systemic forum as the G20.”
The panel is expected to begin its work immediately, with its first meeting scheduled for later this month in Pretoria.
