China must do more to help ease the debt burden of African countries facing economic calamity as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, Ghana’s finance minister Ken Ofori-Atta said.
Though Africa accounts for just a fraction of global cases of the disease, its countries already face the grim impacts, with the continent’s economies expected to contract, putting about 20-million jobs at risk.
“My feeling is that China has to come on stronger,” Ofori-Atta said during a conversation on Monday with Masood Ahmed, president of the Washington-based Center for Global Development that was posted on the think-tank’s website.
“African debt to China is $145-billion or so, over $8-billion of payments is required this year … So that needs to be looked at.”
African governments are calling for $100-billion in assistance, including support for a moratorium on all external debt and eventually some debt write-offs.
In the video below, the United Nations expresses concern about the impact of the coronavirus in Africa:
Ofori-Atta now chairs the Development Committee – a ministerial-level forum that advises the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on development issues.
He said African countries were seeking ways to increase their special drawing rights (SDR), a form of foreign exchange reserves managed by the IMF, to shield against commercial debt defaults.
“This should not happen,” Ofori-Atta added. “So we should find a way to increase SDRs or for the Europeans to offer their SDRs as a way out.”
Confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Africa:
#COVID19 #Africa update: Over 8,900 cumulative cases reported on the African continent. #SouthSudan confirmed its first case in the past 24 hours. https://t.co/V0fkK8dYTg pic.twitter.com/IIllDooibp
— WHO African Region (@WHOAFRO) April 6, 2020
Reduce your risk of COVID-19:
How to protect yourself against #COVID19 #CoronavirusInSA #Day9ofLockdown pic.twitter.com/7dgn0KyFFn
— SABC News Online (@SABCNewsOnline) April 4, 2020
