Climax TV
Former Spain Foreign Affairs Minister and Co-Chair of the Future of Development Cooperation Coalition (FDCC), Arancha González Laya, has called for reforms to global financial rules while urging African governments and other stakeholders to take greater responsibility for implementing development commitments.
She said the existing rules governing the deployment of capital were no longer fit for purpose, particularly for low- and middle-income countries facing high costs of capital and limited access to financing.
Ms González Laya made the remarks in an interview with Bernard Avle on Channel One TV’s The Point of View on Monday, September 14, 2026.
She is in Ghana with other dignitaries for an event organised by the African Centre for Economic Transformation (ACET) under the theme, “Securing Africa’s Future.”Ghana Business Insights
According to her, high and unaffordable financing costs were limiting the ability of developing countries to undertake major investments in areas such as information technology infrastructure, electrification and digitalisation.
“There are rules that are not fit for purpose. And we will be saying this is not made for today. For example, cost of capital today for low and middle-income countries is too high, it’s not affordable, and it’s not available at scale,” she said.
Ms González Laya said reforms were needed in the rules governing risk assessment, pricing and guarantees to enable greater deployment of capital to developing countries.
She, however, stressed that calls for greater African agency must also be matched by effective implementation of commitments made by governments.
Using the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) as an example, she said Africa had made significant progress by seeking to integrate its markets and increase intra-African trade.
“Africa took an enormous step forward by building the African Continental Free Trade Agreement. Integrating African markets, which are very small-scale, would give Africa the resilience to trade more with itself and rely less on more volatile export markets,” she said.
She noted that the challenges facing the implementation of the agreement were not solely linked to international rules but also to the willingness of African governments to fulfil their commitments.
“But what’s hampering the Africa Continental Free Trade Agreement today are not international rules. It is whether or not the governments are ready to implement the commitments they took, whether or not they are ready to erase a little bit more of the trade borders between their countries,” she said.
Ms González Laya said achieving meaningful development therefore required a combination of reforms to international rules and stronger commitment to implementation at the national and regional levels.
She also called for businesses and civil society organisations to be empowered to play active roles in driving change.
“How do we get the rules to be more fit for purpose? But also how can we empower governments and beyond governments, businesses, civil society to be actors for change?” she asked.
She said greater agency came with responsibility, stressing that African countries and other stakeholders had a role to play in shaping and implementing solutions to the continent’s development challenges.
“Because if it is about agency, there are opportunities, but there is also responsibility,” Ms González Laya added.
