IMF approves debt relief for 19 African nations

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has approved relief measures on interest payments for 19 African countries to allow them to redirect their financial resources towards tackling the coronavirus pandemic.

The measures will be trialed for an initial period of six months and will benefit Burkina Faso, Chad, CAR, Comoros, DRC, The Gambia, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mozambique, Niger, Rwanda, São Tomé and Príncipe, Sierra Leone and Togo.

Debt cancellation and relief for African countries are just some of the measures that advocacy groups have called for in order to help vulnerable countries in the region cope with the ongoing outbreak of Covid-19.

Last week, the World Bank warned that the worsening pandemic will tip sub-Saharan African into its first recession for 25 years, shrinking the region’s economy by as much as 5.1%. 

A report by the African Union estimated that nearly 20 million jobs on the continent were “threatened with destruction” because of the virus. 

So far 15,365 cases of coroanvirus have been confirmed in Africa, including 834 deaths. 

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