Only nine developing countries have endorsed the Borrowers’ Platform, a United Nations Trade and Development (UNCTAD) initiative designed to provide borrowing nations with a collective voice in sovereign debt negotiations, according to a senior UN official.
Penelope Hawkins, the Officer-in-Charge of the Debt and Development Finance Branch of UNCTAD, disclosed the figures during the sixth African Conference on Debt and Development in Nairobi. The nine endorsing nations include four from outside Africa and five African countries: Egypt, Ghana, Madagascar, Sudan, and the Central African Republic.
Platform Goals and Eligibility
Launched in April during the IMF-World Bank Spring Meetings with UNCTAD as its secretariat, the platform—also referred to as the Borrowers' Club
—aims to help countries coordinate their positions in global debt discussions, share expertise, and strengthen debt management. The initiative seeks to address a global crisis in which 3.4 billion people reside in countries that spend more on debt servicing than on education or health, according to UNCTAD.
To be eligible for the voluntary, non-binding platform, a country must be a net-borrower developing nation and cannot be a full member of major traditional creditor groupings such as the Paris Club. While over 120 nations meet these criteria, only a small fraction have endorsed the platform. UNCTAD is currently expanding membership before the first official Governing Council Meeting scheduled for October 2026.
Calls for Collective Action
Hawkins urged civil society organizations to pressure their governments to join the platform, asking, Why are you not joining the Borrowers’ Platform? What is it there that is holding you back?
The push for collective agency comes as African Union Heads of State and Government adopted the Common African Position on Debt (CAP) in February. Speakers at the Nairobi conference noted that while the CAP provides a continental framework for debt restructuring and financial system reforms, the challenge remains converting that political agreement into action. Participants argued that negotiating individually with powerful creditors often leaves African countries in an unequal bargaining position.
The urgency of these reforms was highlighted by data shared during the session showing that in June, Zambia released 49.1 billion kwacha in its budget, with approximately 71 per cent—34.9 billion kwacha—allocated to debt servicing, while only 11 per cent was used for capital and social expenditure.
