After the Covid-19, an African economic tragedy

By: Jean-Pierre Boris Follow

From Kenya to South Africa via Senegal, Éco ici Éco also takes stock of the economic impact of the Covid-19 pandemic in Africa. As everywhere, the automobile and tourism industries are affected. And private capital is fleeing the region.

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While developed countries face an acute economic crisis coupled with serious political turmoil in the United States, while Latin America has not yet reached the peak of the coronavirus pandemic, the African continent seems more or less to escape the world cataclysm. The Covid-19 pandemic currently affects fewer people than elsewhere. Containment measures were imposed where possible. And the direct economic consequences are there.
According to the IMF, the African continent should record in 2020 a 1.5% drop in its GDP, unheard of for fifty years. What does this projection mean? Should we believe it? Has the progress made by African economies in recent years been compromised? Are poverty and unemployment gaining ground? Should African economies continue to go into debt?

These are some of the questions asked by Jean-Pierre Boris to his two guests.
-  Carlos Lopes  teaches at the Mandela School for Public Administration at the University of Cape Town in South Africa. He is the High Representative of the African Union for its partnerships with Europe. He is the former executive secretary of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa.
- Salif Chérif Sy  is a professor of economics at the Cheikh Anta Diop University of Dakar and an independent consultant, after having been an economic advisor with the rank of minister to the Senegalese presidency.

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• Coronavirus
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