{"id":62763,"date":"2021-03-01T14:00:17","date_gmt":"2021-03-01T12:00:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/southafricatoday.net\/africa-news\/central-africa\/congo\/coronavirus-african-ministers-meet-with-imf-eca-on-immediate-economic-response-to-covid-19\/"},"modified":"2021-03-01T14:00:18","modified_gmt":"2021-03-01T12:00:18","slug":"coronavirus-african-ministers-meet-with-imf-eca-on-immediate-economic-response-to-covid-19","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/southafricatoday.net\/africa-news\/central-africa\/congo\/coronavirus-african-ministers-meet-with-imf-eca-on-immediate-economic-response-to-covid-19\/","title":{"rendered":"Coronavirus: African ministers meet with IMF, ECA on immediate economic response to COVID-19"},"content":{"rendered":"

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The Executive Secretary of the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), Vera Songwe, on Friday 5 February 2021 met with African Ministers in charge of finance and the Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Kristalina Georgieva, to discuss immediate economic response to the COVID-19 pandemic.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

During the virtual meeting, which was convened by the ECA and IMF, the ministers were unanimous in their call for additional liquidity, $500 billion in Special Drawing Rights (SDR), better market access, more concessional resources and an extension in the Debt Service Suspension Initiative (DSSI), given the prolonged nature of the pandemic.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe all know that the COVID-19 pandemic will persist for the next 2-3 years. Why are we extending the DSSI for 6 months and not 24 months?\u201d said Ken Ofori-Atta, Ghana\u2019s Minister of Finance and Economic Planning.<\/p>\n

Mr Ofori-Atta said the cascading effects of COVID-19 were \u201ca frightening thing for a finance minister to witness when they don\u2019t have the means to respond.\u201d<\/p>\n

On access to the markets, Egypt\u2019s Minister of Finance, Mohamed Maait, said \u201cthere\u2019s a strong case for vulnerable countries to access the markets at affordable rate to afford essentials such as PPEs and food for their populations.\u201d<\/p>\n

Equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines was highlighted as an imperative for building forward better.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe world stands to lose an estimated $9 trillion if only the rich get COVID-19 vaccines. 40% of this loss will be in advanced economies,\u201d said Ms Georgieva.<\/p>\n

In addition to vaccine availability, ECA\u2019s Executive Secretary, Vera Songwe, stated that the issue of distribution and deployment were also worthy of serious attention.\u00a0And for this reason countries needed additional fiscal space and less austerity.<\/p>\n

Ms Georgieva noted that in order to build forward better, there is need for \u201cbold and immediate action for response, recovery, and reset of African economies,\u201d adding \u201cliquidity and financing response is the bridge to vaccines and recovery.\u201d<\/p>\n

The objective of the meeting was to \u201cseek IMF support in forging a way out of the crisis by transforming existing liquidity instruments and easing market access to alleviate the debt burden and provide much needed liquidity for the continent,\u201d said Ms Songwe.<\/p>\n

Noting that Ms Songwe\u2019s call together with Finance ministers\u2019 to triple concessional financing was \u201ccritical in the spring meetings\u2019 conversations last year,\u201d Ms Georgieva urged the ministers to prepare for a focused and practical discussion during the 2021 Spring Meetings.<\/p>\n

\u201cNow is the moment to demonstrate that SDR allocation can be part of a comprehensive support framework, together with debt reduction, debt relief and policy support actions in the countries,\u201d said Ms Georgieva.<\/p>\n

Minister Vera of Angola emphasized the importance of country reforms and in particular good governance reforms as an important component of the response and recovery plan. Angola she said she committed to continuing on its reform path.<\/p>\n

The meeting agreed on the need for a concerted effort to accelerate reforms to increase revenues, improve expenditure and manage debt to attract more private sector investments into Africa.<\/p>\n

Distributed by APO Group<\/a> on behalf of United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA).<\/i>
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Source<\/a>
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South Africa Today Africa \u2013 Central Africa Congo<\/a> News<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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