Impact of COVID-19 on African economies.
Despite projections that African countries will suffer disproportionately from the economic fallout from COVID-19, external stimulus packages being discussed to help shield their economies are tiny in comparison with those in the rest of the world. This will leave a massive financing gap that African countries cannot plug with domestic resources.
Estimates of the region’s COVID-19 funding gap range between 44 billion dollars (World Bank) and 805 billion dollars (UN).
The burden of domestic economic stimulus will fall on monetary authorities, but rate cuts could reignite inflationary pressures.
Of the 49 million people that could be pushed into extreme poverty by COVID-19, almost half (23 million) may come from Africa.
