Africa50 CEO Explains How Improved Infrastructure Can Make Africa More Resilient in the Face of COVID

On the margins of the UN General Assembly, CEO Alain Ebobissé spoke at the Concordia Annual Summit panel on Regional Response and Economic Recovery: Africa, alongside H.E. José Ulisses de Pina Correia e Silva, Prime Minister, Cape Verde, H.E. Olusegun Obasanjo, Former President of Nigeria; HE Monica Geingos, First Lady of Namibia, Clare Akamanzi, CEO, Rwanda Development Board James Mwangi, MD and CEO, Equity Group Holdings, Kate Wilson, CEO, Digital Impact Alliance at the UN Foundation and Tsitsi Masiyiwa, Founder and Co-Chair, the Higherlife Foundation.

Background

COVID-19 has disrupted economies worldwide, but the potential loss of this past decade’s gains across Africa would have a devastating impact on not only national and regional economies but the global recovery. Africa is expected to experience a contraction in economic growth resulting in output losses between $37 and $79 billion. Growth will weaken substantially in the two fastest growing areas, West and East Africa, due to weak external demand and disruptions to supply chains and domestic production caused by COVID-19, and Africa’s three largest economies - Nigeria, South Africa, and Angola - are being hit by persistently weak growth and investment. An abundance of SMSEs as well as a pervasive informal economy and full economies hinged to global tourism, further complicate the economic recovery and employment outlook.

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