Former President of Ghana John Dramani Mahama has acknowledged that economies in Africa suffered as a result of the deadly COVID-19.
According to him, “Covid-19 created the continent’s worst recession in 50 years with real GDP shrinking by an average of 3% in 2020”.
He further indicated that “Before the pandemic, poverty reduction was already a major challenge. The pandemic is estimated to have dragged about 55 million more people into poverty in Africa and exposed another 46 million more to the risk of hunger, and malnourishment. Indeed 70% of hunger in Africa, which had already been on the rise since 2014 is directly attributable to this pandemic”.
The former President was speaking at the 24th African Business Conference organized by the Harvard Business School.
He said African Governments had to ” take action to shield their population from the effects of the pandemic. This meant in many cases an increase in deficits due to unbudgeted expenditures.
John Dramani Mahama indicated the move to protect the citizens forced governments in Africa to incur unbudgeted expenditures which have devastated many African economies and sank them deeper into unsustainable debts and economic downturns.
“Like governments all over the world, it became necessary for African governments to take action to shield their population from the effects of the pandemic. This meant in many cases an increase in deficits due to unbudgeted expenditures. This has devastated many African economies and sank them deeper into unsustainable debts and economic downturns. The pandemic has had a general deleterious effect on the economy of African nations…”
