"The summit intends to deepen two lines of aid: the creation of a massive support package for the African continent, to overcome the shock of the pandemic and, on the other hand, to lay the foundation for a new cycle of growth that will benefit the African peoples, but it can also be an engine of growth for the whole world economy ", said an Eliseu source, at the launch of the summit.
The Summit on the Financing of African Economies, promoted by Emmanuel Macron, takes place the day after France announced the forgiveness of the debt of more than 4 billion euros to Sudan, and follows the release of a request for support from African leaders, on April 15, 2020, in the Financial Times and Jeune Afrique, affected not only by the impact of the pandemic on health, but also on the economy, which saw the existing weaknesses exacerbated by the necessary restraining measures to prevent the spread of the virus.
Dozens of Presidents from African nations participate in the initiative, including the Portuguese-speaking countries Angola and Mozambique, leaders of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the African Development Bank, the World Trade Organization, the World Bank, the United Nations, the European Union and African Union, the Portuguese Prime Minister, António Costa, and those of Spain and Italy, among others.
Despite the fact that the continent recorded a relatively low number of deaths, around 130 thousand, equivalent to deaths in the United Kingdom, for example, those responsible for the Elysee, the official residence of the President of the Republic of France, mainly stress the effect on the economy and consequently, in the lives of people, whose 'per capita' income should only return to pre-pandemic levels in 2023 or 2024.
"We are very afraid of the risk of divergence between African economies, and between these and developed economies," said one of the officials, in line with the IMF's executive director, when he said he feared that one of the consequences of the pandemic, in addition to the "great confinement ", were" a big divergence "between Africa and the rest of the world in terms of relaunching economic growth.
The continent has already received large amounts of money to combat the pandemic and relaunch growth, but the financing needs are significantly greater than the aid received.
"The IMF estimates that African countries will have financing needs equivalent to US $ 450 billion by 2025, hence the idea of massively increasing emergency aid to Africa", which has suffered the same as other countries, but has no the financial instruments that the most developed countries have made available to their economies.
The European Central Bank, for example, provided 750 billion euros in stimulating the region's economy, while the United States of America approved an aid package worth 2 billion dollars, the largest ever, which contrasts with the weak financial capacity of African countries.
