Ghana’s central bank governor called on the International Monetary Fund to accelerate debt relief efforts and expand its crisis response tools, warning that African economies are grappling with mounting pressures that current mechanisms are too slow to address.

Bank of Ghana Governor Johnson Pandit Asiama made the appeal during a meeting of the African Consultative Group in Washington on Tuesday, saying the IMF needed a “step-change” in how it responds to debt distress, climate shocks and tightening global financial conditions.

“African economies continue to operate in an exceptionally challenging macroeconomic environment,” Asiama said, pointing to high debt vulnerabilities, constrained fiscal space and repeated external shocks.

He said spillovers from conflict in the Middle East had worsened inflation and strained external balances across the continent.

African policymakers are increasingly concerned that the pace of international financial support is failing to match the scale of the region’s economic challenges, discussions at the meeting showed.

Asiama said the IMF’s existing debt resolution processes, including the Group of 20’s Common Framework, were often too slow and rigid, calling for a more decisive role by the Fund in coordinating timely and orderly debt restructurings.

Delays in restructuring were prolonging uncertainty, discouraging investment and delaying countries’ return to international capital markets, he added.

“Time-bound restructurings anchored in credible comparability of treatment are essential,” Asiama said, urging stronger participation by private creditors and clearer burden-sharing rules.

He also called for adjustments to IMF programme design, arguing that delays caused by creditor coordination problems should not be treated as policy failures by borrowing countries.

Beyond debt restructuring, Asiama pressed for broader reforms to the IMF’s policy framework, including improvements to debt sustainability assessments for low-income countries and wider use of its Integrated Policy Framework.

He urged faster implementation of the Fund’s “three-pillar approach” for countries facing or at risk of crisis.

The governor also called for increased use of the IMF’s balance sheet to support vulnerable economies, including scaling up concessional financing, institutionalising the reallocation of Special Drawing Rights and making the Resilience and Sustainability Trust more responsive.

“Recent shocks have exposed the need for emergency financing that is adequately resourced and readily accessible,” he said.

Asiama also highlighted the need for capacity-building support in areas such as domestic revenue mobilisation, public financial management and financial regulation, including emerging risks linked to digital finance and cyber threats.

His comments come as many African economies face rising borrowing costs, slower global growth and increasing climate-related disruptions.

The IMF has not yet formally responded to the calls, but debt restructuring and crisis financing are expected to remain central to global economic discussions in the coming months.