Economic consequences of the war in Ukraine: Macky Sall calls for helping Africa

Senegalese President and current Chairman of the African Union, Macky Sall.

ANDRE PAIN AFP

Text by: RFI Follow

2 mins

For the Senegalese head of state, current president of the African Union, the continent " 

suffers the brunt of this war

 ".

To David Malpass, the president of the World Bank, he notably asked that the rich countries accelerate the reallocation of special drawing rights, the famous SDRs promised last year.

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In 2021, the International Monetary Fund had allocated the equivalent of $650 billion to its members in the form of SDRs to

overcome the Covid-19 pandemic

.

African countries had mechanically received 33 billion dollars.

A sum deemed too low.

And the rich countries, under the impetus of France, had promised to reallocate part of their SDRs in order to manage to release an additional hundred billion, but since then things have been dragging on.

Accelerate the pace

Only $60 billion of the hoped-for 100 have been found and they are still waiting to be distributed.

Macky Sall would like the major powers to step up the pace: " 

We are continuing to work with the major countries so that they accept, under agreed conditions, to reallocate part of these SDRs and that we also agree on the use and transparency of this use

.

»

Crisis response mechanism

At the World Bank, where he received the president, David Malpass, Macky Sall also asked to quickly deploy its reinforced crisis response mechanism.

A mechanism used in 2020 during the Covid-19 pandemic: “ 

Its purpose being to support countries in situations of severe economic crisis, natural disasters and food insecurity, it unfortunately happens that we are in these three dimensions

.

»

Because

the war in Ukraine is

causing both an inflationary shock, but also a scarcity of cereals and fertilizers.

Its effects are likely to last throughout the year and seriously impact countries already affected by the pandemic.

►

To read also: Emmanuel Macron and Macky Sall in reflection on development aid in Africa

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  • Africa

  • Macky Hall

  • Ukraine

  • African Union

  • world Bank

  • finance