The COVID-19 pandemic is likely to impose heavy human, financial, economic, and social costs on Africa. But the crisis also creates an opportunity to re-examine the continent’s fiscal and economic-policy priorities, build stronger health and social sectors, and establish a global fund to support productive investment.
WASHINGTON, DC – The coronavirus pandemic could not have come at a worse time for Africa. Despite improved macroeconomic management over the last decade, the continent still lacks the resources to tackle high levels of poverty and inequality, create formal-sector jobs, and foster the structural transformations needed to absorb 12 million young people into the labor market every year. And now COVID-19 threatens to break Africa’s back economically.
WASHINGTON, DC – The coronavirus pandemic could not have come at a worse time for Africa. Despite improved macroeconomic management over the last decade, the continent still lacks the resources to tackle high levels of poverty and inequality, create formal-sector jobs, and foster the structural transformations needed to absorb 12 million young people into the labor market every year. And now COVID-19 threatens to break Africa’s back economically.