Africa needs $100bn stimulus to combat virus
Africa needs an immediate emergency economic stimulus of $100-billion to combat the impact of the coronavirus pandemic and almost half of that could come from waiving interest payments for countries on the continent, according to the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa.
The waiver of interest payments, estimated at $44-billion for 2020, and the possible extension of the waiver to the medium term, would provide immediate fiscal space and liquidity to the governments, in their efforts to respond to the Covid-19 pandemic, the ECA said Monday in a statement after the continent’s finance ministers had a virtual meeting on March 19. The waiver should include not only interest payments on public debt, but also on sovereign bonds, it said.
Government debt as a percentage of gross domestic product in sub-Saharan Africa has doubled in the past decade but countries in the region will have to shelve plans for further Eurobond issuance as yields surge and the spread of the coronavirus limits travel. External debt payments consumed an average 13% of African governments’ revenue before the outbreak, data compiled by the UK-based Jubilee Debt Campaign showed.
Read more: Eurobond Window Shuts for African Issuers as Virus Roils Markets
For fragile states, the ministers agreed on the need to consider waiving principal and interest and encourage the use of existing facilities in the World Bank, International Monetary Fund, African Development Bank and other regional institutions. Given the limited health infrastructure and the fact that most of the pharmaceuticals and medical supplies consumed in Africa are imported, they called on the international community to support the upgrade of the health infrastructure and to provide direct support to the existing facilities.
“Without coordinated efforts, the Covid-19 pandemic will have major and adverse implications on African economies and the society at large,” the ECA said.
Comments
The
content
you are trying to access is only available to subscribers.
If you are already a subscriber, you can Login Here.
If you are not a subscriber, you can subscribe now, by selecting one of the below options.
For more information or assistance, please contact us at subscriptions@creamermedia.co.za.
Option 1 (equivalent of R125 a month):
Receive a weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine
(print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
Receive daily email newsletters
Access to full search results
Access archive of magazine back copies
Access to Projects in Progress
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
Option 2 (equivalent of R375 a month):
All benefits from Option 1
PLUS
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports, in PDF format, on various industrial and mining sectors
including Electricity; Water; Energy Transition; Hydrogen; Roads, Rail and Ports; Coal; Gold; Platinum; Battery Metals; etc.
Already a subscriber?
Forgotten your password?
Receive weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine (print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
➕
Recieve daily email newsletters
➕
Access to full search results
➕
Access archive of magazine back copies
➕
Access to Projects in Progress
➕
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
RESEARCH CHANNEL AFRICA
R4500 (equivalent of R375 a month)
SUBSCRIBEAll benefits from Option 1
➕
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports on various industrial and mining sectors, in PDF format, including on:
Electricity
➕
Water
➕
Energy Transition
➕
Hydrogen
➕
Roads, Rail and Ports
➕
Coal
➕
Gold
➕
Platinum
➕
Battery Metals
➕
etc.
Receive all benefits from Option 1 or Option 2 delivered to numerous people at your company
➕
Multiple User names and Passwords for simultaneous log-ins
➕
Intranet integration access to all in your organisation