Freezing African Debt Would Aid the Continent’s Response to COVID-19

Freezing African Debt Would Aid the Continent’s Response to COVID-19
A woman wearing a mask and a shirt with the face of South African President Cyril Ramaphosa in Johannesburg, South Africa, April 15, 2020 (AP photo by Jerome Delay).

Editor’s Note: Every Friday, Andrew Green curates the top news and analysis from and about the African continent.

Forty African nations will be eligible for a debt moratorium declared this week by the world’s richest countries. The decision by the G-20 to freeze the debt of the world’s poorest nations follows calls for an unprecedented effort to support the continent’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Demands for a debt freeze had been mounting as countries across Africa have scrambled to find the resources to respond to the pandemic. Oxfam had raised alarms that the world’s 76 poorest countries face $40.6 billion on debt repayments this year, money the rights group argued would be better spent on strengthening health care systems and providing support to people who have lost their jobs as economies lock down.

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