The president of Niger Mahamadou Issoufou, president of the economic Community of African States West (Cédéao) estimated on Tuesday that a “cancellation of debt” of the weaker countries “will not be sufficient” to offset the effects of the pandemic on the continent.
read also : Covid-19: five african presidents to advocate for debt cancellation
“The magnitude of the economic crisis that we have in our States requires financial support that goes beyond a simple moratorium. A moratorium seems to me to be insufficient (…) Even a cancellation of the debt will not suffice,” said president Issoufou to the Task Force on the coronavirus of the African Union (AU). “We welcome the announcements (…) on a moratorium on the debt of the weakest States”, agreed the president Issoufou while stressing that “our countries have financial resources need to be fresh (…) not only to cope with the pandemic, but also to revive the economy”.
A drop of 2% in the rate of growth
As in April, the president called for “a Marshall plan” for Africa, emphasizing that this plan was adopted after the second world war for the reconstruction of Europe had “cost 4% of the GNI of the USA for five years”. “This is an opportunity for the international community to achieve the target of 0.7% of GDP to be spent on official development assistance”, he estimated. “At the level of Ecowas, the rate of growth initially projected at 3.3%, will decrease to 2% if the pandemic came to an end in June 2020, and at-2.1%, if it persisted beyond the second half of 2020, inducing in particular a decline in tax revenues and increased unemployment and poverty,” he recalled.
The G20 countries have decided to suspend for one year the repayment of the debt of the poorest countries to help deal with the pandemic of Covid-19 while the German chancellor Angela Merkel spoke at the end of may a new “gesture”. The total debt of the african continent is estimated at 365 billion dollars, of which about a third is due to China. According to an assessment on Monday evening, the Africa which has been relatively less affected than Europe or the United States has recorded nearly 200,000 cases to approximately 5,000 deaths.
The editorial team conseilleLe Mali, the first african country to obtain the suspension of payment of its detteAnnuler the debt of the african States: the idea divides the créanciersAucun comment
there are currently no comments on this article.
Be the first to give your opinion !
I write a comment
