COVID-19: African continent could lose $189bn of GDP in 2020

The African Development Bank has warned the continent could lose up to $189 billion of GDP in 2020 amid COVID-19 pandemic.

Likewise, it hinted an additional 49 million Africans could be pushed into extreme poverty in an updated forecast as economies shrink amid COVID-19 pandemic, with West and Central Africa  becoming the worst hit regions on the continent. The bank also projected that Africa could lose between $145.5 billion and $189.7 billion of GDP in 2020.

AfDB called on African governments and development partners to respond in a more “coordinated, targeted, and rapid manner to be effective in limiting impacts” of the virus.

The development bank said real GDP is expected to shrink by 1.7 percent under the baseline scenario and 3.4 percent in the worst-case scenario.

The bank’s forecast, contained in its latest economic outlook update for Africa, said a partial recovery of 3 percent is expected in 2021, provided governments manage the COVID-19 infection rate well.

Specifically, AfDB stated that the projected growth in 2021 and beyond would depend largely on African governments’ effectiveness in flattening the curve of the outbreak with policies to reopen economies.

In January before the lockdowns and shutdowns triggered by COVID-19, Africa’s growth was forecast at 3.9per cent in 2020 and 4.1per cent  in 2021. The new projection comes as the International Monetary Fund (IMF) recently projected a contraction of 3.2 percent for Sub-saharan Africa in 2020 and a rebound of about 3.4 percent in 2021. That projection was also far worse than what the IMF forecast about two months ago in April.