Africa-Press – Sierra-Leone. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) urged governments of sub-Saharan African countries to be cautious with macroeconomic reforms, as famine spreads in a region severely affected by the consequences of Covid-19 and the conflict in Ukraine.
“Addressing a lack of resilience to climate change and chronic food insecurity will require careful prioritization of policies, given financial and capacity constraints,” the IMF says in a new report.
According to estimates, at least 123 million people, or about 12 percent of the population of sub-Saharan Africa, “may be acutely food insecure, severely malnourished or unable to meet their basic food needs,” writes the IMF.
Global warming is contributing to an increase in the number of hungry people, as East Africa is experiencing one of the worst droughts in its history.
The impact on economies of the Covid-19 pandemic was added to a rise in grain prices fueled by the war in Ukraine, the IMF also points out.
Despite the many challenges, some trade, regularization and market liberalization reforms are feasible, says the IMF.
Revised monetary policies could mitigate the impact on domestically produced goods and anchor inflation, he adds.
“Trade liberalization and import diversification can help stabilize regional food supply and prices,” the IMF suggests.
The institution cites the example of Zambia’s ban on exports of its maize in 2020, when the availability of part of the crop could have helped to fill the food gap in southern Africa.
The IMF renewed its commitment to support African countries in need of technical assistance and financial support.
On Wednesday, the Secretary-General of the United Nations (UN), António Guterres, said that African countries are going through the “perfect storm”, referring to the accumulation of several crises, having called for debt relief for these States.
Asked by Lusa about the situation that African countries are going through, in a ‘briefing’ to the press, in New York, Guterres defended that he has positioned himself in favor of developing countries, namely African countries, since the majority suffer in various fronts, from the Covid-19 pandemic, through climate change, to the impacts of the war in Ukraine.
“Most of these countries are facing a ‘perfect storm’, a ‘perfect storm’ if translated literally into Portuguese.
Many of these countries did not have Covid-19 vaccines in time.
The funds that – in Europe and the United States – were possible to mobilize, printing money, these developing countries were not able to do, otherwise their currencies would immediately devalue in an unacceptable way”, began by explaining the Secretary General, at the UN headquarters.
Referring to the pandemic period, Guterres regretted that there was no debt relief in Africa, which accentuated the continent’s problems.
“There was no debt relief, there was no access to benefited financing, either with subsidies or with lower interest rates.
Developing countries face very serious problems, such as the small islands that lived off tourism and had no income for two years, in addition to the impact of climate change and high energy and food prices, on which they are entirely dependent,” he said.
“These countries are now suffering the consequences of the war in Ukraine and this often makes the situation desperate, as there is no fiscal space to respond to the needs of their respective peoples.
We see poverty and hunger increasing dramatically.
”, he underlined.
Immediate Measures
The Secretary-General of the United Nations, António Guterres insisted on the adoption of immediate measures to provide liquidity to the economies and to alleviate the debt of these countries.
In addition, the United Nations leader also reinforced the need for a reform of the global financial system, “because it was defined by the rich in favor of the rich and in no way serves the interests of developing countries, namely African countries” .
The UN leader presented his priorities to the press on Wednesday, ahead of the meetings of international leaders, at the General Assembly, scheduled for next week.
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