Africa grappling with the economic crisis linked to Covid-19

Food distribution in Cape Town, South Africa, June 19, 2020. MARCO LONGARI / AFP

Text by: Stanislas Ndayishimiye

3 min

Six months after the WHO declared the coronavirus that left China a pandemic, Africa is still the least affected continent from a health standpoint.

On the other hand, it suffers the economic shock as much as other parts of the world.

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The economic impact of the pandemic is violent in Africa.

For the first time in more than 20 years, the continent will enter recession this year, with a contraction of 1.7% of its GDP, the underperformance of growth could even reach 3.4%, according to the African Development Bank.

Whatever level of recession it will register, the 3% rebound envisaged for next year will not be enough to allow Africa to regain its performance of 2019.

Contrasting situations and up to 50 million new poor

Some countries are more economically affected than others.

The global drop in demand for oil linked in particular to the slowdown in air transport and the drop in the price of black gold that it has caused have hit

, Angola and Nigeria

hard

. Countries whose tourism is one of the important economic sectors such as Tunisia,

and Mauritius

are also weakened

.

They see unemployment increasing more than elsewhere.

Some West African countries are among those whose economy resists the best, such as Côte d'Ivoire, Benin, Togo or Senegal.

Despite this resilience, they will also experience an increase in extreme poverty as in other regions of the continent.

Several million jobs lost

The explosion of poverty is the consequence mainly of the loss of jobs for millions of Africans as a result of the crisis.

The most pessimistic scenario of a 3.4% drop in continental GDP could result in a loss of 30 million jobs, according to the African Development Bank.

And this will primarily affect the working poor.

They alone represent nearly half of the employees. 

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• Africa

• Coronavirus

• Economy

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