The United Nations has urged Africa to accelerate the operationalisation of the African Financing Stability Mechanism (AFSM) to cushion economies with heavy foreign currency debt maturities from refinancing risk, as the war in the Middle East threatens to disrupt global financial markets.
The AFSM is a regional financing safety net proposed by the African Union’s Assembly of Heads of State in February 2022. It is designed to provide liquidity support to economies facing external shocks that limit access to global capital markets.
