NEWS RELEASE
World Bank Group and IMF mobilize partners in the fight
against COVID-19 in Africa
WASHINGTON, April 17, 2020—The
World Bank Group and International Monetary Fund today convened African
leaders, bilateral partners, and multilateral institutions to spur faster
action on COVID-19 response in African countries. H.E. Cyril Ramaphosa of South
Africa, United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres, Director General of
the WHO Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Africa Union Commission Chairperson
Moussa Faki Mahamat, and officials of individual countries outlined their
policy plans for effective use of resources, multilateral organizations
including the United Nations pledged their continued support, and bilateral partners
reemphasized their commitment to a debt standstill beginning May 1, 2020. This
comes in response to calls from the World Bank Group President Malpass, International
Monetary Fund Managing Director Georgieva, and other partners for creditors to
suspend debt repayments in order to provide much-needed support to the poorest countries.
“This pandemic has already had a
devastating impact on Africa and its effects will deepen as the rate of
infection rises. It is a setback for the progress we have made to eradicate
poverty, inequality and underdevelopment,” African Union Chairperson and President
of South Africa, H.E. Cyril Ramaphosa said. “While recent announcements
from international partners are very welcome, large financing gaps remain and
greater support is needed to ensure that African countries are able to respond
effectively to the health crisis and address economic challenges.”
Together, official creditors have
mobilized up to $57 billion for Africa in 2020 alone—including upwards of $18
billion from the IMF and the World Bank each—to provide front-line health
services, support the poor and vulnerable, and keep economies afloat in the
face of the worst global economic downturn since the 1930s. Private creditor
support this year could amount to an estimated $13 billion. This is an
important start, but the continent needs an estimated $114 billion in 2020 in
its fight against COVID-19, leaving a financing gap of around $44 billion.
The World Bank Group and the IMF suggested a range of financing options and policy tools as part of the pandemic response, many of which African
countries are looking to implement as they plan for the medium and long-term
impacts of the crisis. These
include further financing from official and private sector creditors.
“The World Bank Group is putting
its full capacity to work for people across Africa as they fight this pandemic,”
said World Bank Group President David Malpass. "The world has
rarely seen a crisis of this magnitude, and no one can stand on the sidelines;
we cannot leave any country behind in our response. We have provided emergency
support to 30 countries across Africa so far, with more to come, and will
continue to advocate for debt relief and increased resources, especially for
those countries hardest hit by COVID-19.”
“Our message is clear: We stand with
Africa: Through our commitments today we are ‘Mobilizing with Africa’ to help
soften the blow of COVID-19 on the continent,” IMF
Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva said. "The pandemic is having a monumental impact across
Africa and the IMF is leaning forward with many other partners to leverage our
resources and to help save lives and livelihoods.” She added that “The IMF will
provide more concessional financing and we count on others to step up and do
their part, to shield the economy and the people, and provide the foundations
for a strong and sustainable recovery”.
It will also be critical for African
countries to work together especially on the health response and on limiting
trade disruptions to ensure freer movement of medical and food supplies. With
so many people working in informal jobs – 89 percent of workers in Sub-Saharan
Africa alone – countries need to take immediate steps to expand social safety
net programs and support workers and small enterprises. Government services
will equally need attention to keep running effectively for the duration of
this crisis.
World Bank Group and IMF leaders applauded the groundbreaking accord among G20 countries to
temporarily suspend debt payments to IDA and least developed countries
beginning May 1, 2020.
The World Bank Group is taking broad,
fast action to help developing countries strengthen their
pandemic response, increase disease surveillance, improve public health
interventions, and help the private sector continue to operate and sustain
jobs. It is deploying up to $160 billion in financial
support, $55 billion of which will be for Africa, over the next 15 months to
help countries protect the poor and vulnerable, support businesses, and bolster
economic recovery.
The
IMF has been moving rapidly to provide comprehensive support its member
countries, by leveraging our $1
trillion lending capacity; doubling annual access limits for
our rapid disbursing vehicles to about $100 billion to respond to unprecedented
calls for emergency financing from more than 100 countries; approving a short-term
liquidity line for countries with very strong economic
fundamentals and exploring additional tools to
help meet countries’ financing needs; and, revamping our Catastrophe Containment and Relief Trust
to help 29 of our poorest and most vulnerable members through rapid debt
service relief, 23 of which are in Africa.
Contacts:
For World Bank Group: Aby K. Toure, akonate@worldbank.org
For International Monetary Fund: Meera Louis,
MLouis@imf.org
For more information
on the World Bank Group’s COVID-19 response, visit: www.worldbank.org/coronavirus
For more information
on World Bank programs in Africa, go to: https://www.worldbank.org/en/region/afr
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