Covid-19 and debt: Africa needs strong partnerships, boldness to tackle challenges – Ghanaian President
Ben Eguzozie is business a.m. regional lead based in Port Harcourt, providing regional and national coverage for economy, business and finance
You can contact him on ben.eguzozie@businessamlive.com with stories and commentary.
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As AfDB launches DAP, SEGA to support African nations tackle debt
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Continent’s debt of US$350bn is highest by any region
President Nana Addo Akufo-Addo of Ghana says African nations need strong partnerships, and boldness to tackle the challenges posed by the Coronavirus pandemic on the continent.
Particularly, the Ghanaian president, speaking at the just-concluded African Development Bank annual meetings, issued forceful calls for action to secure access to Covid-19 vaccines and tackle mounting debt – two challenges that stand in the way of Africa’s recovery from the pandemic.
Covid-19 provided a pressing backdrop to the AfDB meetings, which were held virtually for the second consecutive year. The Ghanaian president noted that the meetings’ theme: “Building Resilient Economies in post-Covid-19 Africa”, said the annual meetings “have an appropriate focus, which is an unavoidable Imperative if our continent is to recover from the effects of the pandemic.”
President Akufo-Addo recounted the pandemic’s toll on human lives, as well as its economic damage – massive loss of jobs and revenue, economic contraction, and rising deficits. He urged continued concerted action, saying the surest path towards stability is to abandon half-hearted partnerships and develop new approaches that support self-sustaining economic growth and development. He praised the rank’s rapid response to the pandemic and called for more support for the continent’s foremost development institution.
“We need to resource the African Development Bank and position it as the catalyst for our economic advancement,” he said.
Meanwhile, the AfDB has launched a Debt Action Plan (DAP) and a new Strategy for Economic Governance in Africa (SEGA). Both agencies will support African countries to tackle debt, and to embark on bolder economic governance reforms to forestall a debt crisis.
As a proportion of gross domestic product and of export earnings, Africa’s debt of about $350 billion is the highest of any developing region. The high debt levels impede public investment in infrastructure and human development and this in turn deters private investment.
AfDB president, Akinwumi Adesina said, “Africa is starting to move forward, again, saying Vaccines are becoming available gradually. Businesses are reopening.”
Adesina cited the bank’s commitment to domestic manufacture of medicines across Africa. He said the African Development Bank will support Africa to produce vaccines, as part of the Vaccines Plan of the African Union.
The chairman of the bank’s Board of Governors, Ghana’s finance minister Ken Ofori-Atta, referred to an African financial stability mechanism – recently proposed by the African Development Bank president – modeled on a European one, and an African liquidity and sustainability mechanism. “The African stability mechanism will be a permanent firewall for Africa to provide instant emergency access to financial assistance to countries in difficulty,” he said.
Chairperson of the African Union Commission Moussa Faki Mahamat commended the AfDB as a partner and lauded its support to the establishment of the African Continental Free Trade Area and the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention.
Faki said, “today, more than ever before, Africa needs to build up its health infrastructure and the manufacture of vaccines.