Browsing: COVID-19 cases in Africa

By Eric Osiakwan

When I postulated the digital economy in Africa in 2013 as a precursor to becoming a fulltime angel investor and subsequently writing about its KINGS in 2016, it never crossed my mind that in 2020 COVID-19 would be the SPEEDING agent. Who could have predicted COVID-19 except Bill Gates who alluded to a viral outbreak in his 2015 TED talk whiles George Bush and Barack Obama were more accurate in prospecting 2020 as the year? However, none of them envisaged the extent of this epidemic which has pretty much collapsed the capital markets and slowed down the economies of many countries with many of us at home – literally trying to survive the pandemic.

Policy action
African leaders took the major decision to declare a lockdown and, in some cases, daily curfews for fear of the virus spreading and overwhelming the (in some cases non-existent) healthcare …

The African Development Bank (AfDB) raised $3 billion in a three-year bond to help lift the economic and social impact that the COVID-19( Coronavirus) pandemic will have on Africa’s economies and people’s livelihood.

In a statement, the AFDB noted that the ‘Fight COVID-19’ Social bond has a three-year maturity and will amass interest from bank treasuries, central banks and official institutions and asset managers and investors who are socially responsible with bids exceeding $4.6 billion.

At 53 per cent, Fight COVID-19 social bond was allocated to central banks and official institutions and asset managers at 20 per cent bank treasuries at 27 per cent while in the Final bond distribution statistics Africa got 8 per cent.

The social bond that will pay an interest rate of 0.75% is the largest dollar-dominated bond ever launched in international capital markets to date as well as the largest US dollar bench bank the …

It goes without saying that during a crisis such as the pandemic the world is currently facing; clear, consistent and concise communications can be an effective tool in curbing the spread of diseases such as COVID-19. But innovative communication has always been an Achilles heel for leaders in a crisis, and Africa is no exception, says political campaigner, Madelain Roscher, CEO of Status (Pty) Ltd.

“Giving credit where credit is due, some African leaders have stepped up with regards to taking decisive action to stop the viral spread of the Coronavirus by partially or wholly placing their countries in lockdown and shutting borders for trave and trade. But without proper communication on how to mitigate the spread of the virus, Africa’s confirmed COVID-19 cases will continue to rise,” says Roscher.

According to the 2019 Global Health Security Index, which ranks countries across the globe on their pandemic preparedness, using …

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) Executive Board approved $165.99 million to help the Republic of Madagascar to address the urgent balance of payment that needs stemming from the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The funds were under the Rapid Credit Facility (RCF). RCF provides rapid concessional financial assistance with limited conditionality to low-income countries (LICs) facing an urgent balance of payments need.

Madagascar’s economy has largely been affected by the coronavirus pandemic with the country’s tourism dramatically declining, trade and investments declining as well as interferences in the manufacturing and mining exports.

The government of Madagascar is taking immediate actions to mitigate the shock of the COVID-19 pandemic by putting immediate fiscal measures to strengthen social protection and support the most vulnerable in society.

Suspension of fees and social contributions to aid the private sector in the country, donating staple food and also providing liquidity to preserve the stability of …

The novel coronavirus (COVID-19) is creating chaos all over the globe, taking lives, unevenly infecting a large number of people over space and time, and also affecting markets performance. Despite, these scenarios, African nations are keeping up the fight in curbing the virus impacts.

The continent’s central banks are trying to cushion their respective nation’s economies against the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

According to information from Bloomberg, as many central banks in the region of more than 1.2 billion target inflation and have to prop up volatile currencies, they have also used non-traditional policy tools, to cut interest rates to salvage economic growth and encourage more lending to consumers and businesses.

The pandemic which has infected more than 1 million people and killed over 69,000 people worldwide is hurting fragile African economies so bad.

According to a study conducted by African Union, the previously projected Gross Domestic Product (GDP) …