The pandemic is hitting the continent at a time when it is particularly vulnerable. The health and conomic consequences can be devastating.

1. Virus and Africa
By
Dominique Strauss-Kahn
As of 20 March, “only” a thousand cases of coronavirus had been confirmed in over 40 African
countries. Obviously, this figure seems rather low. Still, regardless of whether there is simply
a delay in the spread of the virus or shortcomings in how cases are reported, we cannot assume
that Africa will long remain immune.
Alarmingly, most African countries seem ill-equipped to face the pandemic. On Wednesday,
the WHO has warned that Africa must now “prepare for the worst”.
On this score, pessimism may be justified. In 2016, of the 25 most vulnerable countries on the
Rand Corporation’s Infectious Disease Vulnerability Index, 22 were in Africa. Looking back
at the 2014-15 Ebola epidemic, as imperfect a parallel as this may be, we can begin to grasp
just how disastrous the strain of these outbreaks can be on already fragile healthcare systems.
In Liberia, nearly one-tenth of health workers died after being exposed to the virus and, in
neighbouring Guinea, the total number of medical consultations plummeted by 50% in the first
half of 2014 as medical resources were diverted to the fight against Ebola. This resulted in a
steep rise in mortality rates and a drop of several years in life expectancy.
Worse still, the pandemic is hitting the continent at a time when it is particularly vulnerable.
There are two reasons for this. The first one, depressingly, is linked to the collective failure of
industrialized countries to tackle climate change. Here, 2019 was a catastrophic year for Africa
with not one, but several natural disasters striking the continent: Zambia and Zimbabwe are
still contending with their worst drought since 1981; tropical cyclones Idai and Kenneth
rampaged through Mozambique; and invading locust swarms ravaged crops across East
Africa, threatening 20 million people with food insecurity.
On the other hand, most countries’ tight fiscal positions will limit their ability to respond to
the crisis. Overall, the debt/GDP ratio of Sub-Saharan economies went from 30% in 2012 to
95% at the end of 2019. Yield-chasing investors have contributed to the problem: since 2009,

2. African governments have issued more than $130 billion in Eurobonds, including $70 billion
between 2017 and 2019. These are costly. As a result, debt servicing costs have jumped from
17.4% of exports in 2013 to 32.4% in 2019. Today, 18 low-income African countries are
facing a debt crisis or are on the brink of one.
Given Africa’s vulnerability, the economic fallout of Covid-19 is likely to be even more
devastating than anywhere else.
For oil-producers, some of which are still recovering from the 2014-16 collapse in commodity
prices, it may be the straw that broke the camel’s back. Last week, the oil market imploded,
posting its sharpest drop since the Gulf War in 1991. On Wednesday, prices had fallen under
$25 a barrel, from $70 on 6 January. Oil receipts expected by these countries have gone up in
smoke, making the debt pile look increasingly unsustainable.
The outlook is hardly any better for the continent’s relatively more diversified economies. In
January and February, China’s total imports only decreased by 4%, but the drop in African
imports reached 20%. The likely collapse in tourism receipts will hit many destinations hard:
in Cabo Verde, tourism accounts for 44% of GDP and 39% of employment.
So it’s no surprise then that the Economic Commission for Africa slashed its 2020 growth
forecast for the region on 13 March, from an initial 3.2% to just 1.8%, even as population
growth is currently around 2.7% per year. I fear this projection may still be overly optimistic.
In the coming weeks, the flow of capital out of Africa will reach unprecedented highs. Over
the past month, nearly $50 billion has already rushed out of emerging markets.
In short, in a do-nothing scenario, many African countries can expect to see a decline in GDP
per capita; unsustainable debt will make it impossible to execute their budgets and will reduce
their capacity to pay public sector wages, severely disrupting public services, including first
and foremost education and health.
This would precipitate a sharp deterioration in living conditions and the collapse of national
health systems, all factors that will likely increase the migratory pressures towards Europe: it
would no longer be a matter of tens of thousands of migrants trying to gain entry into Europe,
but hundreds of thousands or even millions.
Battle plans to save developed economies are being drawn from Beijing to Washington. In the
U.S., Congress is preparing to spend $1.3 trillion dollars to shore up its economy. Germany
and China have respectively pledged $600 and $400 billion in stimulus packages.
These efforts cannot disregard Africa. In light of the magnitude of the crisis expected, a
measure as least as ambitious as the 2005 Highly-Indebted Poor Country (“HIPC”) initiative
must be rapidly introduced, entailing a massive cancellation of debt for the poorest countries
and extending the financial support badly needed for countries to meet urgent health care
expenditure. Since the HIPC initiative was implemented, coupled with the zero-interest rates
from the IMF in 2009, economic growth in Africa has been strong, averaging around 5% in
spite of the oil crisis in 2014.
The IMF has just unlocked $50 billion, with only $10 billion earmarked for its most fragile
members. I’m afraid this falls far short of what is needed. In addition, these loans will only be
accessible to Fund members with a sustainable debt, clearly not the case for many of these
countries. Only an orderly debt relief programme – made more difficult by the complex web
of multilateral, bilateral and private creditors – can help rescue these countries from economic
collapse in the medium-term. In the more immediate term, the international community must
consider a mass issuance of SDRs, as it did in 2009.

3. The response calls for global coordination, on a scale similar to the efforts involved in
overcoming the subprime crisis, and collective decisions must be taken providing economic
support, along the lines of what was successfully achieved at the G20 London Summit in April
2009. Even if multilateral economic cooperation is no longer viewed as favourably post-2016,
it is now more critical than ever.
National African leaders, private creditors, regional banks, the Bretton Woods institutions, the
Paris Club, China and the philanthropists, must come together to find a joint compromise and
entrepreneurs such as Jack Ma and Mohamed Bouamatou have already called for the creation
of funding set aside for Africa.
The Sub-Saharan population is expected to increase by one billion individuals by 2050. The
international community cannot stand idle as the coronavirus, national self-interest and trade
wars amongst major powers derail growth on the continent. Otherwise, poverty, malnutrition,
health and social instability will ultimately bring about greater devastation than the virus itself.
Global crises call for global solutions. However, where Africa is concerned, Europe must play
a particular role. For Europeans, turning its back on Africa would be a human tragedy and
would represent a considerable setback in the cooperation between the two continents on
migration issues and the fight against terrorism.