Finance ministers of the African Union (AU) member countries held an emergency meeting via videoconference on Thursday to discuss response policies to the novel coronavirus (Covid-19) crisis and its repercussions on the continent’s economies.
It was the third meeting of African officials within a month in light of mounting pressure on African governments for economic stimuli and debt relief.
African finance ministers’ second online meeting on 31 March called for immediate emergency financing of $100bn, of which $44bn would go towards debt relief for all African countries. The meeting was coordinated by the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa.
A recent AU report on the economic implications of the coronavirus expected about 20m job losses and up to $270bn trade losses.
African officials fear that the diversity of African debt obligations would weaken the negotiating position of African countries, as some debts are dominated in US dollar and others in the form of Eurobonds, besides bilateral loans from the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank to finance separate development projects.
