COVID-19: Lockdowns cost Africa over US$65bn a month

Lockdowns caused by the Covid-19 cost Africa about US$65 billion a month, according to findings put before the experts meeting in Addis Ababa on Africa’s industrialisation.

“A one-month complete lockdown across Africa would cost the continent about 2.5% of its annual GDP, or about $ 65.7 billion per month,” read the document based on an estimate by the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA).

The COVID-19 pandemic has severely affected Africa. The pandemic has had different effects on countries depending on their strengths and vulnerabilities.

In November 2020, two million people were already infected and 48,400 deaths declared around Africa.

Presently, more than 50 African countries are in the process of breaking free from the strictest containment measures in the world that they adopted, leading to a serious deterioration in their economic activities and their socioeconomic situation.

The experts meeting, which started Wednesday in Addis Ababa and online, was due to close on Friday. It was held ahead of the 53rd Conference of African Ministers of Finance, Planning and Economic Development on the theme, Africa’s Sustainable Industrialization and Diversification in the Digital Era in the Context of COVID-19.