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Webinar
28
Apr
Webinar: COVID-19 – DFIs Response in Support of the African Financial Sector
Tuesday, April 28, 2020
As part of its series of activities on the impact of the COVID 19 pandemic, Making Finance Work for Africa (MFW4A) is hosting a webinar on Development Finance Institutions’ (DFIs) response in support of African Financial Sector following the pandemic. This webinar follows a previous MFW4A webinar hosted by African financial sector practitioners and business leaders on the impact of COVID 19 on their industry.
Date: 28 April 2020 @ 1:00 pm GMT | 9:00 am New York | 4:00 pm Nairobi
An initial analysis of COVID-19’s economic impact by McKinsey finds that Africa’s GDP growth in 2020 could be cut by three to eight percentage points . Falling oil and commodity prices have made African economies particularly vulnerable to the coming shock. Governments across the continent could soon face mounting budget deficits and depreciating currencies. Furthermore, the complicated structure of countries’ public debt makes the prospect of debt restructuring harder. In the past two years, African governments have raised over $55 billion on international debt markets, held by a web of creditors including banks, commodity traders and even hedge funds. According to a recent report by the African Union, several African economies could be at risk of currency devaluations and debt default as evidenced by the downgrade of South Africa’s sovereign credit rating to “junk” status by credit ratings agency Moody’s on March 27. Such moves mechanically raise the country borrowing costs and could prompt significant capital outflows, while making it more difficult to pump resources into creaking healthcare systems and provide aggressive stimulus programmes to shield the economy against the fallout from the pandemic.
During the one-hour webinar, panellists will assess and discuss proven and potential instruments best suited to support the financial sector under current circumstances. Exchanges will also focus on potential challenges and lessons learned from previous crisis including the 2008 global financial crisis and the 2014 Ebola outbreak in west Africa.
- Region Global
- Language English
- Keywords African Financial Sector, Coronavirus (COVID-19), Development Finance Institution