"It now seems clear that the new coronavirus pandemic will cause more economic damage than we had anticipated, both globally and within Africa," analysts write in an update to the economic forecasts for the continent.
In the update, sent to clients and to which Lusa had access, Capital Economics notes that "the drop in export revenues and the pessimistic feeling about the evolution of the price of raw materials will put pressure on the exchange rate policy, forcing Nigeria and Angola to devalue their currencies".
Analysts in the British consultancy predict "a reduction in growth across the region, with South Africa and tourism-dependent economies such as Mauritius, for example, having a decline in production this year.
The spread of the virus, they add, is influenced by African particularities: "On the one hand, African countries are less urbanised than their richer counterparts in Europe or Asia, where the disease has advanced faster, and the population is younger, but on the other hand most African governments do not have the administrative capacity to impose measures restricting social contact".
