AfDB: What Africa needs to overcome COVID-19

Akinwumi Adesina, president of African Development Bank (AfDB), says Africa needs accelerated health and economic efforts to overcome the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Speaking during a webinar organised by the Corporate Council on Africa (CCA) on Tuesday, Adesina urged government officials and corporate executives to develop new and sustainable partnerships that would endure beyond the pandemic.

“One death is one too many and our collective humanity is at stake,” he said.

“There is a compelling need to pay attention to underlying global inequalities, and the impact on rich and poor countries.”

Florie Liser, CCA president. commended the AfDB’s “proactive leadership” role in responding to the pandemic in Africa.

She said, “the COVID-19 pandemic threatens to erase Africa’s unprecedented growth and economic gains over the last decade”.

Listing the bank’s activities to help the fight against the pandemic, Adesina said the $3 billion Fight COVID-19 bond, which has been listed on the London Stock Exchange was oversubscribed at $4.6 billion.

He said the AfDB also launched a $10 billion COVID-19 response facility to assist African governments and businesses.

The AfDB response package is said to include $5.5 billion earmarked for African governments, $3.1 billion for countries that fall under the bank’s concessionary African Development Fund and $1.4 billion for the private sector.

Speaking on healthcare facilities available in Africa, he said: “While China is home to 7,000 pharmaceutical companies, and India 11,000, Africa, by contrast, has only 375, even though its population is roughly equal to half of the combined population of both Asian giants”.

Adesina urged multilateral institutions to align and step up their collective efforts with regard to Africa’s debt, manage their ratings, and work together with rating agencies.