Ann Pettifor, the British economist who grew to become a world determine within the battle for debt aid, will ship the keynote tackle on the 9th Ghana International Trade and Finance Conference (GITFiC).
Pettifor is finest remembered for her pivotal function in serving to Nigeria safe probably the most outstanding debt offers in fashionable African historical past. Between 2004 and 2005, she labored carefully with Nigeria’s Debt Administration Workplace. She additionally collaborated with the then Minister of Finance, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, to barter the clearance of greater than $30 billion owed to the Paris Membership of official collectors. The deal restored fiscal respiratory room to Nigeria’s economic system. It additionally set a precedent for the way creating nations may reset their debt burdens.
Her affect on the worldwide stage extends far past Nigeria. She was one of many driving forces behind the Jubilee 2000 marketing campaign. The grassroots motion galvanised world leaders and in the end secured the cancellation of greater than $100 billion in exterior money owed for 42 of the world’s poorest nations. Backed by church buildings, commerce unions, and civil society teams, the marketing campaign reshaped conversations round sovereign debt and worldwide finance.
In recognition of her contributions, Nigeria’s former president Olusegun Obasanjo conferred on her the Member of the Order of the Niger (MON) in 2002, a uncommon honour for a international nationwide.
Immediately, Pettifor serves as Director of Coverage Analysis in Macroeconomics (PRIME), a UK-based suppose tank centered on sustainable finance and financial justice. She additionally sits on the Scottish Authorities’s Simply Transition Fee, the place she advises on local weather finance and equitable financial insurance policies.
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ninth Version of GITFiC
At GITFiC 2025, she is going to act as each keynote speaker and lead discussant for the World Debt Initiative and the GITFiC Agenda 2031. She is anticipated to convey many years of expertise in world finance and advocacy into the continuing dialogue on Africa’s debt sustainability.
The ninth version of the convention, scheduled for October 29 to November 2 in Accra, will revolve round two main themes: the second World Debt Initiative and the maiden AfCFTA Tertiary College students’ Congress.
Selasi Kofi Ackom, CEO of GITFiC, mentioned the World Debt Initiative was born out of the realisation that externally imposed options typically failed to satisfy Africa’s wants.
“Over the previous years, we observed that options designed outdoors Africa for Africans weren’t serving to the continent’s monetary structure,” Ackom famous.
“This highlighted the necessity for an built-in, indigenous African monetary structure—cooked by Africans, made for Africans, and applied by Africans. This imaginative and prescient gave delivery to the World Debt Initiative.”
