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The Chairperson’s Remarks at the IMF WB Mobilising for Africa Teleconference 17 April 2020

The Chairperson’s Remarks at the IMF WB Mobilising for Africa Teleconference 17 April 2020

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April 17, 2020

Ladies and Gentlemen,

I would like to thank you for the opportunity to participate in this high level meeting.

Much has already been said by the previous speakers, and I totally agree with the Chair of the Union President Cyril Ramaphosa.

But I would like to emphasise the situation today on the ground in Africa, keeping in mind that Africa’s continental strategy is already in full swing coordinated by the Africa Union Commission that includes both a response to the public health needs and the socio-economic challenges of this pandemic.

As of today, fifty-two (52) out of the fifty-five (55) AU Member States have reported almost nineteen thousand (19,000) COVID-19 cases and almost one thousand (1,000) deaths. Local transmission is now in forty-three (43) of our member states.

Given that the testing capacity in many of our countries remains poor, I’m sure these figures do not tell the full picture of transmission.

Which is why AfricaCDC, the public health arm of the African Union, needs immediate support to procure life saving medical supplies, but in particular, to increase testing capacities in our countries.

AfricaCDC urgently needs four hundred and thirty million dollars (430million) to implement the Continental strategy, out of which three hundred and fifty million dollars would be to procure urgently needed medical supplies.

Technical discussions with the World Bank are already underway, but time is of the essence. I ask you David for your support to fast track these discussions so these urgent funds are made available to AfricaCDC.

If we get these funds quickly, and when I say quickly, I mean next week or this month, it may buy us precious time to inverse some transmission trends

As you know, African countries are already putting all our modest resources to address the pandemic and ensure socio-economic safety nets in our countries, where eighty-five percent of our people work in the informal economic sectors.

African Finance ministers have estimated the needs to be two hundred billion dollars for the Continent to absorb this extraordinary external shock. And probably more for recovery. But these remain estimations and you and the four AU Special Envoys know better than me about economic projections.

The socio-economic dimension of this pandemic is as crucial as the public health needs. And in Africa, the risks are more pronounced than any where else in the world.

Our public health systems are near breaking point and this crisis risks to reverse the Continent’s hard- won economic and social achievements of the last 30 years. Without your support, this scenario is very probable.

In these extraordinary circumstances, we need extraordinary solutions. To do this, there is need for speed. This is not business as usual, Ladies and Gentlemen, and the normal rules cannot apply. Many countries in the developed world have already gone beyond established frameworks in order to respond to the social and economic impact of the pandemic.

Let us not forget during these times that we need solutions that take into account the different realities of our member states. Many of which are already facing security and terrorism challenges and others under crippling international sanctions, as in Sudan and Zimbabwe.

In this regard, we ask for the suspension of Africa’s public debt for at least two years, and why not, debt cancellation altogether, to ensure that Africa has the fiscal space to devote our resources to response and recovery while we work towards therapeutics or a vaccine when it becomes available.

We are grateful for the steps already taken on debt by the G20, the IMF, the World Bank and others. It is an important first step, but it simply does not go far enough. It also needs to be inclusive to all African countries, recognising the inter connectedness of our economies.

We should also not compromise existing core programs such as vaccination and immunisation by redirecting already committed resources to the pandemic.

We ask for equity based on solidarity, not as a concept of gestures of sympathy, but collective global action, organized around shared vulnerability and common interests, and directed toward common goals.

The World has the means. Let us now mobilise the political will.
This is NOT the time for hesitation or political calculus. We must move now, and we must move together.

The African Union and its members will play their part and we want to count on the solidarity of every one of you here.
Thank you.

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