According to a World Bank report released on Tuesday, the economy of sub-Saharan Africa is projected to decline 2.8% in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The World Bank report, titled “World Economic Outlook for June 2020,” says that the gross domestic product (GDP) per capita of the African region is also expected to fall even more sharply, possibly causing millions to fall into the extreme poverty.
“Growth could resume at 3.1% in 2021 assuming that the pandemic subsides in the second half, that national virus epidemics follow a similar trajectory and that the growth of the main trading partners rebounds”, adds the flagship report World Bank Group.
The report assesses the impacts of the pandemic and analyzes the courses and possible outcomes. The results show that sub-Saharan Africa has been literally devastated by the COVID-19 pandemic this year, which is likely to result in the largest contraction in economic activity ever seen to date.
The World Bank has also noted that in addition to the heavy health and safety costs, efforts to contain the spread of the virus, such as movement restrictions, border closures and national containment, disrupted the functioning of local economies.
“Although growth is expected to recover in 2021, the region is particularly vulnerable to a larger and more lasting slowdown given the weakness of its health care systems, limited fiscal space and its limited capacity to implement effective social distancing measures, ”says the World Bank report.
The report recalls that sub-Saharan Africa is also at risk of over-indebtedness due to high debt levels and significantly higher borrowing costs.
Report finds that in Nigeria and South Africa, the two largest economies in the region, activity fell sharply in the first half of this year, while other economies in the region also suffered greatly during the same period.
