Headlines: debt relief to better cope with coronavirus

Audio 4:10

By: Frédéric Couteau Follow

Publicity

Finance ministers and central bankers from G7 member states on Tuesday said they favored a temporary suspension of debt interest payments for poor countries. Objective: to help these countries cope with the health and economic impacts of the coronavirus pandemic.

This Wednesday, the G20, the 20 richest countries in the world, meets to also approve the moratorium on part of the debt.

In recent days, notes Le Point Afrique , " Macky Sall, Emmanuel Macron, the World Bank, the IMF, the UN and even Pope Francis " had gone in this direction. Already, " the IMF has announced that it will provide emergency aid to 25 of the world's poorest countries. Concretely, the funds paid will cover for six months the repayments of the debt to the IMF and allocate more of their meager resources to their efforts in medical emergency and aid. Among the 25 countries concerned, as African countries there are Benin, Burkina Faso, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, DRC, Gambia, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mozambique, Niger, Rwanda, São Tomé and Príncipe, Sierra Leone and Togo. "

► Emmanuel Macron on RFI : “ We owe solidarity to Africa ” in the face of the coronavirus

" A strong signal "

For Fraternité Matin , in Côte d'Ivoire, the IMF " gives a strong signal ", even if Côte d'Ivoire is not yet directly concerned. “ However, tempers the Abidjan daily, the expectations of African countries are still far from being met. The call for debt relief, stress the continent's finance ministers, is for the whole of Africa and must be undertaken in a coordinated and collaborative manner. The ministers also call for the creation of a special purpose fund to meet all the obligations of this sovereign debt. Finally, African governments are asking for a longer period of debt relief, where the IMF has agreed six months, for now. "

Indeed, there is urgency. Example in Mali: “ We will soon discover the bill for the Covid-19 crisis, exclaims Mali Tribune , and it will be colossal. We can expect a significant increase in the unemployment, poverty and crime rates. (…) If the show continues, and everything leads us to believe it, the riots of dear life, and therefore of hunger, are not far away. "

Rich countries also see their interest ...

" This suspension of the African debt that everyone calls for is not a simple quest for charity ," notes Le Pays au Burkina. It is an imperative in the current context. And for good reason. The global economy is slowing down due to the coronavirus pandemic, and even the most optimistic growth forecasts are plummeting. The receipts in the treasuries of the African States are becoming scarce, thus cutting their solvency. Even if these states would like to pay their debts, they find themselves unable to do so. Then , continues Le Pays, it is in the interest of developed countries to boost the response and resilience capacities of the countries of the South in the face of the Covid-19 pandemic, because the movement of men in a world today completely open, could nullify their own efforts to curb the plague in their respective spaces. The proof is today given by China which records cases of reinfection coming from abroad. "

An incentive to work more ?

For the daily newspaper Today , still in Burkina, the alleviation of this " financial burden " could and should have repercussions other than purely financial. " This moratorium is also a kind of injunction to work more in Africa , believes Today, where wealth creation seems to be an Arlesian. Few or no middle classes, no industries, no capital gains, chronically deficit trade balances, all-out imports, rampant unemployment and low purchasing power, all of which make people consume more in Africa than we produce, and all things considered, this moratorium is a sting of reminder to Africans to tell them that nothing is worth the work (…). Unhappy and frustrated no doubt, the 40 African countries concerned would be rather well inspired to take this moratorium with philosophy and to roll up their sleeves , concludes Today, to better work and produce wealth, a step towards development. It is the only way to reduce debt. "

Newsletter With the Daily Newsletter, find the headlines directly in your mailbox

Follow all international news by downloading the RFI application

• Emmanuel Macron
• Newspaper
• Economy
• Coronavirus