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The International Monetary Fund said that Africa needs $ 1.2 trillion over the next three years to recover from the economic and health costs resulting from the spread of the Corona virus.
The fund’s director, Kristalina Georgieva, said the world “must do more to support Africa (to recover) … from this crisis.”
This is despite the fact that the number of HIV cases and deaths due to it is lower in Africa than in most other continents.
But the World Bank warns that 43 million more Africans are at risk of extreme poverty as a result of the epidemic.
In an online meeting with International Monetary Fund officials, Georgieva said the economic impact of the epidemic is due to strong economic growth in Africa in recent years, as jobs (which had recently been available) disappeared and sources of Household incomes decreased by 12 percent.
To help mitigate the spill, several African governments have implemented policies that have cost 2.5 percent of GDP, according to Georgieva.
The International Monetary Fund has given African countries some 26 billion dollars to alleviate the repercussions of the crisis, but despite the help of private lenders and assistance from other countries, there is still a large financing gap.
The director of the International Monetary Fund said that “some countries face large debt burdens that force them to choose between paying interest on debts or additional expenses in the social and health sector.”
To help, Georgieva called on the G20 to extend the moratorium on debt payments and make more money available for loans.
Africa has registered more than 1.5 million confirmed cases of coronavirus. Almost 37,000 people have died from the infection.
