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Africa: Positive Moves After Finance Ministers Call for Debt Relief During COVID-19 Crisis
allAfrica, 7 April 2020
The appeal Africa's ministers of finance made to bilateral, multilateral and commercial partners after their online conferences of March 19 and 31, 2020, for the alleviation of… Read more »
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Africa: Continent's Big Asks For The IMF and World Bank - Here's the List
The Conversation Africa, 8 April 2020
The coronavirus and its economic consequences have caused economic tsunamis in every country in the world. The scale of the onslaught will dominate discussions at the International… Read more »
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Africa: AU Predicts Continental Recession Due to COVID-19
VOA, 6 April 2020
With the African Union now predicting the continent’s economy will contract by 0.8 percent this year, African finance ministers are scheduled to meet via video conference on… Read more »
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UNECA, 1 April 2020
The second online meeting of the African Ministers of Finance took place on 31 March 2020 in the context of the outbreak of the coronavirus in Africa. The first meeting of the… Read more »
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Africa: French Finance Minister Supports Debt Moratorium for African Countries
RFI, 2 April 2020
In light of the rapid spread of Covid-19 on the African continent, French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said at a press conference on Thursday that in order to avoid a tragedy in… Read more »
France Supports Debt Moratorium As Continental Recession Looms
Researchers at the African Union believe the continent will slip into a recession this year due to a huge fall in global oil prices and the impact the novel coronavirus pandemic has on trade, remittances and tourism. Analysts say that African finance ministers need to convince institutions such as the IMF and World Bank to suspend, or even cancel, some of the continent's debt load. The continent's finance ministers have called for debt relief and the "urgent and immediate release of the US$100 billion" - a debt relief call with which French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire is in agreement.
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Africa: Debt Relief for the Poorest Countries Critical in Fight Against COVID-19
Unicef, 7 April 2020
Statement by UNICEF Executive Director Henrietta Fore Read more »
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Africa: AU Predicts Africa's Economies May Be Decimated By COVID-19 Pandemic
RFI, 6 April 2020
Vulnerable African economies could be strangled by the coronavirus pandemic with the possibility of up to 20 million job losses and the potential for social unrest, according to a… Read more »
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Nigeria: Plea for 'Marshall Plan' As Pandemic Hits African Economies
Vanguard, 4 April 2020
Niger President Mahamadou Issoufou on Friday appealed for a "Marshall Plan" to help African economies hit by the coronavirus pandemic as more states warned of a devastating impact… Read more »
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Africa: Continent Braces for Coronavirus Impact 'Like Nothing We Have Seen'
Thomson Reuters Foundation, 6 April 2020
With ventilators scarce and social distancing a luxury, COVID-19 cases are rising on the continent. But some hope lessons from Ebola have left governments better prepared Read more »
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Africa: African Leaders Plead for Debt Recess As Continent Fights COVID-19
New Zimbabwe, 5 April 2020
AFRICAN leaders have called on international financiers who include World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) to either defer payment of debt or immediately suspend interest… Read more »
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Africa: AU Bureau Calls for International Support Amid COVID-19
SAnews.gov.za, 4 April 2020
With an urgent need for medical supplies and equipment to fight the COVID-19 pandemic, African Union (AU) Member States have called for international cooperation and support. Read more »
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Africa: The pandemic is no time for fiscal distancing
African Development Bank (AfDB), 4 April 2020
These are very difficult days, as the world faces one of its worst challenges ever: the novel coronavirus pandemic. And it seems almost no nation is spared. As infection rates… Read more »
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Africa: African Union Leaders Agree On Need to Reverse COVID-19 Crisis
Nation, 5 April 2020
Nine African Union (AU) leaders on Friday held talks remotely on how their countries can collectively join in the battle against the Covid-19 global pandemic. Read more »
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Africa: Three Things the G20 Must Do to Support Africa in Covid-19 Pandemic
UNECA, 26 March 2020
This is a global crisis affecting the whole world. Africa, however, will be hit harder with a heavy and durable economic toll, which will threaten progress and prospects, widen… Read more »
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IMF, 31 March 2020
International Monetary Fund (IMF) Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva made the following remarks today during an extraordinary conference call of G20 Finance Ministers and… Read more »
InFocus
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United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres says the new coronavirus disease "is attacking societies at their core, claiming lives and people's livelihoods". A new ... Read more »
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A lead COVID-19 vaccine candidate has been announced - but wealthy countries are facing mounting calls to give more funding to poorer nations to help protect the world's most ... Read more »
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The International Monetary Fund and the World Bank are putting measures in place to assist smaller nations who are struggling with existing debt and whose circumstances have ... Read more »
