Today we are tackling an issue that is on the minds of every African policy maker, and one that has captured international discussions for several years: African Debt. Debt can be an incredibly useful tool for governments when managed transparently and correctly, and when it is used to fund investments that pay off in the long term. It can fill important funding gaps that development assistance and domestic resource mobilization cannot. But several countries have found themselves in a vicious cycle of debt, effectively mortgaging their people’s futures by agreeing to riskier and less transparent terms that hold their fiscal space hostage. Civil society groups in many places have rightly become increasingly vocal in opposition to borrowing for large projects, advocating for more prudent spending and greater transparency. Host Albert Zeufack, Chief Economist for Africa at the World Bank, discusses this and more with Carmen Reinhart, the World Bank Group’s Chief Economist and an expert on global debt.

Economic growth in Sub-Saharan Africa is estimated to have contracted by 2.0% in 2020, closer to the lower bound of the forecast in April 2020, and prospects for recovery are strengthening amid actions to contain new waves of the pandemic and speed up vaccine rollouts, according to the World Bank’s biannual economic analysis for the region.

As we close out 2020 and look into 2021, one thing is abundantly clear: the world has changed. There is much to be concerned about against the backdrop of COVID-19, but so much to be proud of and hopeful for across Africa. This episode of Afronomics looks back over the last five decades of crises, successes, and development in Africa to see what lessons can be applied now, as the economic recovery gets underway across Africa. Host Albert Zeufack, Chief Economist for Africa at the World Bank, discusses this and more with Dr. K.Y. Amoako, Founder and President of the African Center for Economic Transformation and former Executive Secretary of the Economic Commission for Africa. Dr. Amoako started his career in 1974 at the World Bank and has dedicated his life to solving the development challenges of the world’s poorest countries, especially those in Africa. He has recently published the book, Know the Beginning Well: An Inside Journey Through Five Decades of African Development.

The COVID19 pandemic is taking hold in Africa, and countries are dealing with the health and economic impacts that are becoming clearer as the weeks go by. For many export-led economies, there has been a sharp decline in exports and consequently export revenues. The economic effects of the pandemic are projected to be huge. The private sector, especially small businesses, in Africa will be hard hit by this pandemic. Host Albert Zeufack, Chief Economist for the Africa Region at the World Bank, invites Dr. Arkebe Oqubay, the Senior Minister and Special Advisor to the Prime Minister of the Federal Republic of Ethiopia, to help us understand the impact of this pandemic on the private sector in Africa, and share what Ethiopia is doing to protect people, support businesses, and save jobs.

Timely and relevant knowledge and information sharing can help individuals change behavior, can inform countries’ responses, and can help prevent missteps from being repeated across the world. For African countries that has meant taking what we know from East Asian and European countries that faced COVID-19 a bit earlier and helping figure out what may, or may not, work in places where informality is high, or where lockdowns are not feasible. Host Albert Zeufack, Chief Economist for the Africa Region at the World Bank, is honored to welcome Mari Pangestu to Afronomics. Mari Pangestu is the Managing Director for Development Policy and Partnerships at the World Bank and oversees the World Bank’s knowledge work.

The COVID-19 pandemic is having severe public health, economic and social impacts around the world, and Dr. John Nkengasong, Director of Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has called this public health emergency a “looming disaster” for the African continent. The Africa CDC has been at the forefront of limiting the health impact of the pandemic, coordinating efforts of member states, sourcing medical equipment globally and locally for countries on the continent, and providing guidelines on how countries can implement social distancing measures among other efforts. Delivering this mandate within the varying contexts of African countries is not without its challenges. Host Albert Zeufack, Chief Economist for the Africa Region at the World Bank, invites Dr. Nkengasong to tell us about the measures they are taking to fight the pandemic under these circumstances.

The COVID-19 pandemic is only just beginning to take hold in Sub-Saharan Africa, but it is already having a huge impact. The World Bank’s recent Africa’s Pulse report found that COVID-19 is likely to drive Sub-Saharan Africa into its first recession in 25 years, with growth potentially falling as low as negative 5.1% in 2020. The crisis is likely to push millions of households into poverty. Food security is at risk because of trade disruptions, lower agricultural production and fewer food imports. And with 90 percent of people working in informal jobs, it is harder to reach workers with the support they need. African countries need resources today to help contain and combat this pandemic, and to safeguard lives and livelihoods. The big question is: what can be done? Host Albert Zeufack, Chief Economist for the Africa Region at the World Bank, invites Acha Leke, the Chairman of McKinsey’s Africa Region, to discuss what individuals, governments, and companies can do to help African countries and African people pull through.

Ten years ago, the world was fighting its way out of a global financial crisis, but prospects were strong for Sub-Saharan Africa to quickly recover. The World Bank started publishing Africa’s Pulse at that time, as a vehicle to help us track these trends and put the economic and development outlook squarely on the agenda for our discussions with African leaders and our partners.

Over the last decade, we have been riding the wave of the “Africa Rising” narrative through the economic ups and downs in the region, including a regional crisis that stopped progress in its tracks in the middle of the decade, from which many countries are still recovering. 

We published the 20th edition of Africa’s Pulse in October, and as we close the decade, host Albert Zeufack, Chief Economist for the Africa Region at the World Bank, invites colleagues Shanta Devarajan, Punam Chuhan-Pole, and Cesar Calderon, who have led this important work over the last ten years. 

Despite the incredible progress that so many African countries have made, poverty remains a defining part of the narrative around Africa. While the share of people living in extreme poverty has come down in the last decades, the number of people has gone up, due to rapid population growth during the same period, to reach nearly 416 million people. If left unchecked, extreme poverty in the world will become almost exclusively an African issue by 2030, in just ten years. In this episode of Afronomics, Albert Zeufack welcomes Kathleen Beegle and Luc Christiaensen, the main authors of a new World Bank study on Accelerating Poverty Reduction in Africa, to discuss what needs to be done differently to fight poverty in Sub-Saharan Africa.

For more information, access the full study here: openknowledge.worldbank.org/handle/10986/32354

The 2019 World Development Report focused on the Future of Work on a global scale, highlighting the real tension between job losses in “old” manufacturing sectors that are susceptible to automation, and potential job gains driven by innovation in “new” sectors. Our Africa-focused companion report, released in July 2019, finds that Africa has a chance to take a different path – if governments and businesses can take advantage of digital technologies, and if the right policies and investments are in place.

Part two of this two-part podcast examines the role of social protection in helping workers, especially the most vulnerable, transition into the jobs and technologies of the future. Host Albert Zeufack welcomes Zainab Usman, Social Scientist in the Office of the Chief Economist for Africa at the World Bank, and co-author of the World Bank’s recent Future of Work in Africa report.