"Ministers were unanimous in their requests for additional liquidity, access to $500 billion in Special Drawing Rights, better market access, more concessional resources, and an extension of the Debt Service Suspension Initiative (DSSI) due to the prolonged nature of the pandemic," reads a note from the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) sent to Lusa.
The note presents the main conclusions of the virtual meeting that brought together UNECA Executive Secretary Vera Songwe, IMF Executive Director Kristalina Georgieva, and several African finance ministers, including Angola's Vera Daves.
"We all know that the covid-19 pandemic will persist for the next two or three years, so why are we extending the DSSI for six months and not 24," the Ghanaian finance minister questioned, admitting that the effects of the pandemic "are a frightening thing for a finance minister to see when he doesn't have the means to respond.
Kristalina Georgieva acknowledged the need for "immediate and bold action on the response, recovery, and resumption of African economies," stressed that "the liquidity and financing response is the bridge to vaccination and recovery," and recommended that African leaders prepare for a detailed discussion of financing during the IMF and World Bank Spring Meetings in April.
"Now is the time to demonstrate that the allocation of Special Drawing Rights can be a part of comprehensive support to countries in difficulty, along with debt relief and support for economic policies," said the IMF leader.
Special Drawing Rights are the use of IMF 'savings' but can only be accessed with the agreement of member countries, which until now has been impossible due to opposition from the United States when Donald Trump was president, but African countries have the expectation that Joe Biden's new presidency will reverse that position.
"The world could lose about $9 billion if only rich countries receive the vaccines, and 40 percent of that loss will be in advanced economies," Georgieva said.
The objective of the meeting, assumed the executive secretary of UNECA, Vera Songwe, was "to seek the support of the IMF to create a way out of the crisis, by transforming existing liquidity instruments, and facilitating market access to alleviate the debt burden and provide much-needed liquidity to the continent.
In her speech, Finance Minister Vera Daves showed her commitment to the path of reforms the country has been following and stressed the importance of good governance for the pandemic's response and recovery plan, as indicated in the text sent by UNECA to Lusa.
