PARIS (Reuters) – Emmanuel Macron receives several African leaders and representatives of international organizations, including donors, on Tuesday for a summit intended to reflect on ways to revive African economies, which are facing billions of dollars in debt against the backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic.
This summit is part of the initiative put in place by the French president to strengthen investments in Africa while the continent will face a deficit of nearly 300 billion dollars (245 billion euros) by the end of 2023, after suffering an economic recession last year.
“The crisis has affected all countries, all continents, Asia, Europe, and Africa. The peculiarity of Africa is that it does not have the financial means today to protect and revive its economy, as have all the other continents, “French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said Tuesday on RFI.
Quoting the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Bruno Le Maire said that developed countries had devoted nearly 25% of their national wealth to revive their economy, while this figure is barely 2% in Africa.
“So the major risk, the one we want to prevent (…) is the great economic divergence between the African continent which would go backwards – this can worsen with the return of poverty, the growth of inequality -, while on the other side the United States would start again strong, Europe would start again strong, Asia would start again strong “, explained the French minister.
“It is an economic problem, it is a political problem, but it is also a security problem”, he summed up, adding that the stake in Africa was absolutely strategic for France and for the European Union.
The summit in Paris brings together around thirty African and European heads of state, as well as the heads of international financial institutions such as the IMF.
According to the African Development Bank, up to 39 million people could fall below the poverty line this year, with many African countries at risk of debt distress due to the pandemic.
Emmanuel Macron believes that a “New Deal” is necessary for Africa in order to bring the continent a breath of fresh air.
In April, G20 finance ministers and central bank governors supported a $ 650 billion strengthening of IMF reserves and an extension of a moratorium on debt repayment of the poorest countries in the face of the crisis. coronavirus crisis.
A source within the Elysee Palace said ahead of the summit that France wanted this initiative to go much further.
Funding from the World Bank’s International Development Association – which provides emergency aid – private sector investment and the broader topic of debt crisis management will also be on the agenda.
“The president spoke of massive debt cancellations and continues to think that it is very important to provide liquidity to African countries and allow them to invest,” said this source at the Elysee.
Emmanuel Macron said he was in favor on Monday of canceling Sudan’s debt to France, amounting to some five billion dollars, in order to help this country continue its democratic transition and get out of the crisis economic.
(John Irish and Richard Lough; French version Claude Chendjou, edited by Blandine Hénault)
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