Nigeria and Other African Nations to Lose $200bn to COVID-19 – IMF

• Nigeria and Other African Nations to Lose $200bn to COVID-19 – IMF

The International Monetary Fund has said Nigeria and other Sub-Saharan Africa may lose around $200 billion in incomes to COVID-19 this year.

The estimated $200 billion loss was disclosed in a podcast published on the Fund website on Tuesday.

Papa N’Diaye, the Head of the Regional Studies Division, IMF’s African Department, explained that the region was “facing unprecedented health and economic crisis that threatens to reverse much of the development progress it has made in recent years”.

According to Ndiaye, who heads the research team that worked on the Regional Economic Outlook, African nations would face income losses of around $200 billion by the end of this year.

“There will be large income losses from this crisis. By the end of 2020 the region will face income losses of about $200bn relative to what they were expecting six months ago,” Ndiaye said.

“We are expecting incomes to be four per cent below what they were six months ago,” he added.

The International Monetary Fund had predicted that the region’s economy would contract by 1.6 percent this year due to the negative impact of COVID-19 on the region.

While African Finance Ministers have said they need at least $100 billion to protect 30 million jobs and stimulate the dwindling economy.

Ndiaye added that major oil producers in the region like Nigeria, Angola etc would suffer the most given their exposure to the highly unpredictable oil market presently trading at record lows.

“The drop in oil prices is hitting the oil exporting countries like Nigeria and Angola.

“It is having a big impact and not just in terms of growth, they will suffer a sharp decline in terms of revenue.

“They have limited fiscal space and will need the support of the international community,” he observed.