Africa will face the most painful economic recovery after the coronavirus pandemic, as it is largely dependent on the richer countries, the economies of which will struggle from the global economic slowdown as well
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 07th May, 2020) Africa will face the most painful economic recovery after the coronavirus pandemic, as it is largely dependent on the richer countries, the economies of which will struggle from the global economic slowdown as well, Zimbabwean Ambassador to Russia Mike Sango told Sputnik, adding that it will prompt the continent's poverty rate to double, or even triple.
"Africa's economic recovery after this pandemic will be the most painful because it is closely tied to the economies of the wealthy countries who are already contemplating a painful recovery. The poverty rate in Africa will double if not triple after the pandemic," Sango said.
While Africa welcomes the resolution by the G20 Finance Ministers to defer debt payment to selected African countries, it is simply the deference of payment to some future date, which does not bring long-term relief to the continent's debt burden nations, Sango said, adding that he regretted that the G20 decided to only temporarily freeze the payments.
"Zimbabwe's economic recovery will be even more painful, as it has no access to external open sources of finance, while it has to grapple with the effects of the pandemic, drought, cyclone Idai recovery and malaria. African countries would have been better off with debt relief rather than a debt freeze," the diplomat stated.
Sango added that the G20's temporary freeze of payments on the external debt did not concern Zimbabwe, which was under US sanctions and in debt to other financial institutions, therefore no organization wanted to lend money to the country.
"In any case, under the United States Zimbabwe Democracy and Recovery Act (ZIDERA), Zimbabwe would not get support from the US to access borrowing from IFIs [international financial institutions]," the ambassador said.
In the early 2000s, Washington introduced sanctions against then-Zimbabwean President Robert Gabriel Mugabe's administration and later extended them. In particular, the United States accused the country's leadership of conducting undemocratic practices, human rights abuses and economic mismanagement, urging it to carry out political and economic reforms. According to the ambassador, these sanctions make it impossible for Zimbabwe to seek financial assistance from international organizations.
