As chairperson of the African Union, President Cyril Ramaphosa appointed special envoys to mobilize international economic support for the African continent in its fight against coronavirus pandemic.
The special envoys would be tasked “with soliciting rapid and concrete support as pledged by the G20, the European Union and other international financial institutions”.
Ramaphosa appointed former South African Minister of Finance Trevor Manuel as well as former Nigerian Finance Minister Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, former the African Development Bank Dr Donald Kaberuka and former Credit Suisse boss Tidjane Thiam.
“In the light of the devastating socio-economic and political impact of the pandemic on African countries these institutions need to support African economies that are facing serious economic challenges with a comprehensive stimulus package for Africa, including deferred debt and interest payments,” said Ramaphosa.
“The impact of the coronavirus pandemic has been global in both scale and reach, and this necessitates coordinated international action to capacitate all countries to respond effectively, but most particularly developing countries that continue to shoulder a historical burden of poverty, inequality and underdevelopment.”
Ramaphosa added: “The sentiment expressed in two recent letters written to the G20 by a group of world leaders and a team of esteemed economists underscore the importance of bolstering health systems in poorer countries; this can only be done with the support of the international community.”
According to the think tank group Brookings Institution, several countries and multilateral organizations announced additional measures to combat the economic fallout from COVID-19 in Africa.
Among the actions taken by countries, Uganda’s central bank cut its benchmark interest rate by 1 percentage point to 8 percent and directed commercial banks to suspend dividends and bonuses for 90 days.
Nigeria’s finance minister announced that the country would request $6.9 billion from multilateral lenders including the International Monetary Fund (IMF), World Bank, and the African Development Bank (AfDB).
Ghana’s finance minister, Ken Ofori-Atta, called on China—the region’s largest bilateral lender—to take the lead on debt relief for Africa.
This week, the number of cases of COVID-19 in Africa officially passed 10,000.
Consequences have stretched far beyond economic disruption, with numerous nations implementing major political and societal responses.
(Compiled by Inside Politics staff)
