September 17, 2022, was the day to celebrate the tenth anniversary of The Economist of Benin. On this occasion, the former Prime Minister of Benin Lionel Zinsou, former boss of the PAI Partners fund and co-founder of Southbridge Bank, opened the economic debate by focusing on the problem that is hampering the development of African countries.

“The whole world had prophesied that Africa was going to be the victim of Covid. In the end, it was the least tested continent,” declared the former co-founder of Southbridge Bank, through an analysis, the light on the failure of the pessimistic forecasts that have blossomed even within the specialized (WHO) and financial institutions (the more prestigious (World Bank, IMF) on the African apocalypse.

According to him, African countries are not over-indebted but are underfunded, thus focusing on the crises that are shaking the whole world, namely Covid-19, during which the Union Africaine has set up a mechanism for the purchase of anti-Covid-19 equipment and vaccines with the support of an Afreximbank facility. To the pandemic was added the geopolitical upheaval in Eastern Europe and the Ukrainian crisis, which, in his opinion, showed that the African continent cannot depend on the outside on a certain number of basic commodities. The rise in oil prices is accelerating the energy transition.

He states that: “Benin is not over-indebted in terms of public debt. When you have a public debt equivalent to 50% of GDP at preferential rates over long periods, you are over-indebted.”