The International Monetary Fund says African countries faced a financing gap of $345bn through 2023.
Kristalina Georgieva, IMF Managing Director, told a conference on Friday, calling on countries and institutions to do more to help Africa weather the global pandemic and its economic impact.
She noted that though the region had spent an additional 2.5 per cent of gross domestic product on average to help their populations, even as institutions like the IMF had also stepped up, more aid was needed.
Private lending also remained subdued, the IMF chief said.
“The pandemic will not be over anywhere until it is over everywhere,” Georgieva said. “All of us, countries and institutions, must do more to support Africa to cope with the next phase of this crisis.”
She said despite sizeable domestic adjustments, African countries needed $1.2tn in financing through 2023, hinting that some heavily indebted countries were being forced to choose between debt service and additional health and social spending.
According to her, current commitments from international lenders and official bilateral creditors will cover less than a quarter of the projected needs, and private lending remains limited, leaving the projected $345bn funding gap.
The pandemic, coupled with a collapse in commodity prices and a plague of locusts, have hit African economies particularly hard, putting 43m more people at risk of extreme poverty, according to World Bank estimates.
