"The point is that the increase in borrowing costs may be attributable to several factors, and these may be stemming from changes in global financial markets. The first is the shift in debt composition, and we can mention that over the past decades, African countries, if you like, have increasingly turned to private creditors and international capital markets for financing. We can also talk about global interest rate hikes [...]. We can also talk about credit rating challenges. With a notice that many African countries experience very unfavorable credit ratings and which often elevates the perceived risk [for] investors [...]. Another important point is that a decline in concessional financing and we see that gradually, and there has been a reduction in concessional financing from traditional, multilateral, and bilateral sources," Professor Abor states.