African countries will need US$1.2T through 2023 to repair the economic damage inflicted by the coronavirus pandemic, IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva said Friday.
About US$345B in financing has not yet been pledged, Georgieva said in a speech, while commitments from official lenders and international institutions cover less than a quarter of the projected need.
“All of us — countries and institutions — must do more to support Africa to cope with the next phase, which is building a recovery from this crisis,” Georgieva said.
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Africa faces a projected financing gap of over $345 billion through 2023, and nearly half of the burden is on the low-income countries. Today's Mobilizing with Africa was about decisive actions we can pursue to close this gap. https://t.co/YYdXImI8OT #IMFmeetings pic.twitter.com/4rsTjAYA3J
— Kristalina Georgieva (@KGeorgieva) October 9, 2020
The Washington-based crisis lender estimates Africa will see its GDP contract 2.5 percent in 2020, one of the worst downturns the continent has ever seen. And while recovery will begin next year, pre-crisis levels of growth won’t be reached until 2022.
With private sector financing limited, the IMF projects a funding gap of US$44B for this year alone, and 43 million people could be pushed into extreme poverty on the continent, wiping out five years of progress in poverty reduction.
The IMF has significantly increased its financial assistance to the continent, providing about US$26B to more than 40 countries this year, while the World Bank has provided around US$21.9B in loans.
[1/2] Six months ago, @DavidMalpassWBG and I convened the first Mobilizing with Africa meeting to deliver swift support. pic.twitter.com/j4muuJvi7j
— Kristalina Georgieva (@KGeorgieva) October 9, 2020
African countries have more than a million cases of Covid-19 with 23,000 deaths, the IMF said.
Source: AFP via Club of Mozambique
