President Duma Boko used his address to the United Nations General Assembly on Wednesday to press for changes to the global financial system, arguing that developing countries need cheaper, more reliable financing to expand their economies, create jobs and sustain essential public services.
Speaking at the 81st session of the General Assembly in New York, Mr. Boko called for an overhaul of the international financial architecture. Developing economies, he said, continue to face borrowing costs far higher than those available to wealthier nations.
The price of debt, he argued, has become a development issue. When governments must spend more to borrow, they have less money for schools, hospitals, roads and job-creation programs.
Mr. Boko called for fair and predictable access to concessional financing, including a wider supply of loans on favorable terms. He also urged the United Nations and its financial partners to direct more private capital toward productive investment in developing economies.
His appeal comes as Botswana faces a difficult fiscal shift at home. A prolonged downturn in the global diamond market has weakened mineral revenue and increased the government’s borrowing needs. The country, once known for substantial fiscal reserves and relatively low public debt, is now under growing pressure to finance an economic recovery.
Botswana’s public debt reached about 33 percent of gross domestic product at the end of 2025. Government projections suggest the figure could exceed the country’s statutory ceiling of 40 percent during the 2026-27 financial year.
That backdrop gives Mr. Boko’s argument added urgency. Botswana is calling on international institutions to make development financing more accessible even as it confronts the need to control borrowing costs, rebuild its fiscal reserves and reduce its dependence on diamonds.
His remarks echoed a concern shared by many developing nations: Access to capital remains deeply unequal. Higher interest rates can make infrastructure, climate adaptation, health care and industrial development substantially more expensive, even for governments seeking to maintain fiscal discipline.
Cheaper international financing, though, does not remove the need for sound fiscal management at home. Easier access to external funding may give governments more room to invest, but it must be accompanied by stronger tax collection, careful spending and projects capable of producing lasting economic returns.
Mr. Boko also called for more private investment in developing economies, which could help close the gap between the scale of investment needed and the limited resources available to governments.
For Botswana, the issue is especially important. The government is trying to diversify an economy that has long relied on diamonds, promoting growth in sectors beyond mining and placing greater emphasis on economic diplomacy and investment partnerships.
Before the General Assembly, Botswana’s international relations minister, Phenyo Butale, said the government planned to use the gathering to attract investors and increase financial inflows.
But private capital does not move simply because governments ask for it. Investors weigh market size, infrastructure, regulatory stability, taxes, currency risk and their ability to repatriate profits. Botswana must do more than advocate for greater international investment; it must create the domestic conditions needed to turn investor interest into viable businesses and jobs.
Mr. Boko also raised health cooperation at the United Nations, calling for the protection of UNAIDS, the Joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS. His appeal comes as the program’s future structure and financing are being debated as part of broader changes within the United Nations system.
UNAIDS has urged governments attending the General Assembly to maintain HIV financing, prevent disruptions to treatment and other services, and support a stronger, restructured United Nations program on AIDS. The organization says sustained political and financial support is needed to turn international commitments into measurable results.
The issue carries particular weight for Botswana, which has developed considerable expertise in responding to HIV and has received international recognition for its progress toward eliminating mother-to-child transmission. At the United Nations, Mr. Boko presented the country’s experience as an example of what sustained international cooperation, backed by domestic commitment, can accomplish.
Botswana’s broader message was that economic development cannot be separated from the rules governing international finance. For countries facing high debt costs, climate threats, infrastructure shortages and shrinking sources of traditional development aid, the terms of access to capital can shape nearly every area of public policy.
Yet Botswana’s own experience also shows the limits of relying on outside solutions. The slump in diamond demand has exposed the risks of depending on a narrow revenue base, while rising fiscal pressures have made domestic reforms more urgent.
Mr. Boko’s address advanced two connected arguments: The international financial system should give developing countries fairer access to capital, and countries like Botswana must use that capital to build broader, more resilient economies.
Whether that case gains traction will depend on more than speeches and declarations. International institutions would need to turn reform pledges into lower borrowing costs, greater access to concessional financing and stronger private investment flows. Developing countries, for their part, would need to convert those opportunities into sustainable growth rather than another cycle of debt.