President Macky Sall's candidacy for the office of UN Secretary-General places the reform of the global financial architecture among its priorities. The rules of finance belong to another world, and they weigh most on the countries that had the least hand in writing them.

Access to finance at two speeds. The same project — a road, a hospital, a power grid — costs several times more to finance depending on which country undertakes it. The cost of capital erases tight budgets year after year, and a government's effort dissolves into a risk premium it does not control. Two economies with similar fundamentals do not borrow at the same rate, and the gap is paid in schools and clinics that never rise from the ground.

A debt that smothers development. In many countries, debt service now exceeds spending on health or education. Repayment comes first, care comes after. Rescheduling when the burden becomes unbearable, relief when it has already fallen on the population, and prevention upstream rather than crisis management: the common framework for handling debt exists on paper, but it acts too late and too slowly for the states it was meant to protect.

Special drawing rights where they are missing. The 2021 issuance of special drawing rights mainly strengthened the reserves of economies that did not need them. Their rechannelling toward the countries that lack them, promised since, still falls short of the commitments made. Liquidity sleeps where it is plentiful, when elsewhere it would make the difference between a financed harvest and a lost season.

What the Secretariat can carry. The Secretary-General does not set interest rates and does not vote the budgets of the financial institutions. He holds something else: the capacity to convene states, to carry development finance onto the agenda of peace, and to remind the world that a debt which deprives a country of its schools prepares the instability the Security Council will later have to address. The United Nations conference on financing for development has set a course; the follow-through, year after year, remains to be kept.

Experience in multilateral negotiation. Twelve years as head of state and the chairmanship of the African Union in 2022 underpin these commitments. That experience explains why the vision statement filed with the United Nations frames its proposals as obligations: peace, security and development conceived together; a renewed multilateralism; stronger governance of the Organization.

Africa at its heart, the world in its sights.

The United Nations' work on financing for development is public. Read all public positions at www.mackysall.net