AfricaN Group Statement on the implications of COVID-19

The following statement, dated 24 June 2020, is being circulated at the request of the delegation of Botswana on behalf of the African Group.

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1.1.  COVID-19 is an unprecedented crisis of our time - the worst global health crisis in 100 years. It threatens to disproportionately affect developing and least developed countries, and Small Island Developing States not only as a health crisis in the short term but also as a devastating social and economic crisis in the foreseeable future.

1.2.  Initial ECA estimates suggest Africa will face an immediate decline in GDP growth from 3.2% to 1.8% in 2020 as a result of COVID-19, but with a further adverse impact if COVID-19 is not contained in the short-term. The downward growth revision in 2020 reflects macroeconomic risks arising from the sharp decline in output growth among the region's key trading partners, the fall in commodity prices, reduced tourism activity in several countries, as well as the effects of measures to contain the COVID-19 global pandemic. A recent publication by the UN stipulated that initial estimates indicate that Africa maybe in its first recession in the last 25 years, and the World Bank estimates suggest that the number of people who could be pushed into extreme poverty in 2020 may reach as high as about 49 million people, with around half of this increase occurring in Sub-Saharan African countries.