Participants at a webinar to present the African Development Bank’s African Economic Outlook Supplement to Asian audiences on Monday have endorsed the report as critical for post-COVID-19 Africa.
The supplement revised the growth projections and outlook for Africa for 2020 and 2021 and highlighted the impact of COVID–19 on Africa’s socio-economic landscape, recommending policy responses to safely reopen economies and accelerate growth recovery.
“Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, investment opportunities still abound in Africa,” said Tetsushi Sonobe, the Dean of the Asian Development Bank Institute.
“Global markets are shifting to South Asia and Africa. In a sense, Africa is not very far for Asian investors who might be interested in the investment opportunities on the continent.”
Around 350 participants attended the virtual event, which was co-hosted by the Asia External Representation Office of AfDB.
The audience included government officials, representatives from the African diplomatic corps in Asia, development professionals, representatives of civil society, academics and think tanks, students, journalists, and the general public.
Sonobe observed that Africa’s gross domestic product growth was projected to quickly rebound in 2021 following steady growth before COVID-19.
Sonobe identified some of the potential opportunities highlighted in the report, saying, “A large market with a very talented youthful population; a three-trillion-dollar market opportunity through the African Continental Free Trade Area agreements; greater manufacturing potential as low-cost manufacturing opportunities continue to move to Africa; improved business environment; and improving macroeconomic governance.”
Khaled Sherif, AfDB’s Vice President for Regional Development, Integration and Business Delivery, said despite the pandemic affecting all African economies, its magnitude would vary considerably from country to country, depending on the economic characteristics and initial conditions of the countries.
“This urges us to avoid the one-size-fits-all solution to address the effects of COVID-19 in Africa. For that, the AEO Supplement notes that the continent will need the support and expertise of all. This is an opportunity to enrich the debate on what appropriate measures are needed to support African countries to recover from the pandemic, drawing particularly from Asian experience,” Sherif said.
The webinar noted that the policy recommendations of the report could be regarded as important opportunities for investments as participants also observed that although Africa was human-resource-rich, it would need to work on closing its infrastructure gap.
The report underlined the urgency to build the resilience of Africa’s healthcare systems and economies to improve countries’ preparedness for future shocks.
“Policymakers must seize the new and real opportunities for participation in global value chains, particularly with Asia and within Africa and build the infrastructure needed to encourage large-scale teleworking, e-health, and distance learning architectures for a rapid, resilient, and sustainable recovery in a post-COVID-19 digital world,” said Chuku Chuku, officer in charge of the bank’s Macroeconomic Policy, Debt Sustainability and Forecasting Division.
“The pandemic notwithstanding, Africa is open to business and we look forward to working with our Asian partners.”
