The African Development Bank (AfDB) reports that its Covid-19 emergency packages have reached the continent’s five geographic regions as the bank continues to endeavour to respond swiftly to the needs of its member countries during the ongoing pandemic.

The Covid-19 pandemic is forecast to cause Africa’s gross domestic product (GDP) to drop by between $22.1-billion and $88.3-billion this year.

The bank’s operations have continued to run smoothly since the first cases appeared in early March, despite the range of lockdowns and measures imposed by governments to flatten the curve, it said in a statement on June 15.

REGIONAL UPDATE  

Before the advent of the Covid-19 pandemic, West Africa was home to at least four of the continent’s fastest-growing economies and the AfDB says the region has felt the impact of the disease hard, as borders remain closed and economic and social distress deepens.

Gambia, Mali and Niger will benefit from an Economic Community of West African States (Ecowas) support package to bolster national health systems in response to the pandemic and much of the funds to this region will seek to address shortages in personal protective equipment (PPE), ventilators and other emergency equipment.

The support will also enable governments to provide shortfall cash to the millions of people who have been affected by mass layoffs or are unable to work because of lockdowns.

In this region, Nigeria will receive €288.5-million; Senegal €88-million; Côte d’Ivoire €75-million; Cabo Verde €30-million and Ecowas €22-million.

The pandemic has already triggered a sharp drop in household incomes in the North African region, which is the worst hit by the pandemic, with over 60 000 cases as at June 12.

The region will be assisted with a series of emergency operations to boost containment measures and help to ensure the supply and distribution of laboratory tests and reagents, the AfDB says, adding that the package will also support national and regional coordination mechanisms.

In this region, Morocco will receive €264-million; Tunisia €180-million and Egypt $500 000.

East Africa, meanwhile, has been simultaneously struck by the coronavirus outbreak and an infestation of desert locusts, a “double whammy” for the region’s farmers and economies.

In a region of climate change and water scarcity, post-harvest losses and poorly developed agricultural markets could threaten the promise of economic reforms and investment, the AfDB laments, noting that top performing countries (such as Ethiopia, Kenya and Rwanda) have all seen a sharp decline in tourism revenue.

Kenya, however, will receive €188-million from the AfDB as part of a support package.

Further, the AfDB says a decisive lockdown has been effective in stemming the spread of Covid-19 in South Africa, which is considered Southern Africa’s “powerhouse” country. While the spread of the virus is not yet curtailed, measures taken across the region to contain the pandemic have affected millions of people, many of whom work in the informal economy, according to the AfDB.

Assistance to this region comes in the form of preventive and protection measures as well as financial assistance to the vulnerable beyond the end of the epidemic. In this region, Mauritius will receive €188-million and Zimbabwe $13.7-million.

In Central Africa, the $13.5-million support package approved for the region will target the provision of PPEs, test kits and healthcare and laboratory facilities for Chad, the Democratic Republic of Congo and the Central African Republic, which are among the countries with the least number of ventilators on the continent.