INTO AFRICA Sep-Oct 2020 Edition – Africa Economy: A Tipping Point

Welcome to the Sep/Oct 2020 edition of INTO AFRICA, a publication written by professionals, for professionals, investors, policymakers … We Advance and provide fresh insights into Africa’s emerging markets through renowned thought leadership and peer-to-peer knowledge sharing. This edition is titled: Africa Economy: A Tipping Point.

The coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19) has splintered the world economy, exposing social responsibility and governance fault lines across continents. The substantial shifts in society, its institutions and individuals during the pandemic have introduced major uncertainties into our familiar structures and upended assumptions of what is true and stable. While no sector or industry can be recession-proof, the pandemic-driven action currently underway in many African countries contains the seeds of a large-scale reimagination of Africa’s economic structure, policy and political variables and reform, service delivery systems, and the social contract.

Sub-Saharan African economies face a slow recovery from the coronavirus pandemic and the region’s economic growth will fall behind the rest of the world next year, according to the International Monetary Fund. Gross domestic product in the region is projected to expand by 3.1% in 2021, compared with a forecast of 5.2% for the world economy. This partly reflects sub-Saharan Africa’s relatively limited space for fiscal expansion, the Washington-based lender said in its Regional Economic Outlook report. The shock of the pandemic will push more countries in the region into debt distress and governments should be cautious about returning to international debt markets. A combination of dwindling revenues and higher spending during the pandemic will likely push debt-service costs in the region to 27% of GDP compared with a projection of 22% before the crisis.

At the same time, the pandemic is accelerating trends such as digitisation, market consolidation, and regional cooperation, and it is creating important new opportunities, for example, to boost local manufacturing, accelerate digital transformation, transform Africa’s healthcare system with a focus on resilience and equity, formalise small businesses, and upgrade urban infrastructure.

PLEASE CLICK TO DOWNLOAD – INTO AFRICA PUBLICATION: SEP–OCT 2020 EDITION.