African finance ministers: urgent need for $100bn immediate emergency financing for COVID-19

African Ministers of Finance held a second virtual meeting, against the backdrop of rising COVID-19 cases in Africa. The meeting was hosted by Vera Songwe, Executive Secretary of the Economic Commission for Africa, and co-chaired by Ministers Tito Mboweni of South Africa and Ken Ofori-Atta of Ghana.
Countries shared their experiences and also discussed opportunities for mutual support. While acknowledging the commendable policy measures taken by governments, the Ministers underscored that Africa’s economy is facing a deep and synchronized slow down and could take up to three years to turn the corner.
They stressed the need to take “all possible actions to slow down and bring the spread of COVID19 under control in the short term but acknowledged this is an uphill battle.