The Developmental Gains Africa had Made Erased

Up to 600 million people risk falling into poverty as major economies shut down to halt the spread of COVID-19, according to Oxfam’s new report Dignity Not Destitution. The pandemic could push development gains back by as much as three decades in some places in sub-Saharan Africa, the Middle East and North Africa. The findings, conducted by researchers at King’s College London and the Australian National University, also estimate that over half of the world’s 7.8 billion people could be living in poverty in the virus’s aftermath. In Ghana, cancelling the east African country’s external debt payments for the year would allow officials to give $20 a month to each of the country’s 16 million children, disabled and elderly people for six months. The forecast remains extremely grim, with the UN estimating that nearly half of all jobs in Africa could be lost.

SOURCE: THE GUARDIAN