ECA appeals to G20 to open trade corridors for pharmaceutical and health supplies

The Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) has appealed to G20 leaders to support and encourage open trade corridors, especially for pharmaceuticals and other health supplies in view of the Coronavirus pandemic.

It again asked the highly industrialised G20 group to increase support for the upgrade of health infrastructure and provide direct support to existing facilities, according to a news release copied to the Ghana News Agency and signed by Dr Vera Songwe, Secretary-General of ECA.

"This will enable countries to focus on prevention as much as possible and start building curative facilities. Support should be provided to WHO and CDC Africa with funds channelled through the Global Fund, GAVI and others," it said.

The release urged the G20 leaders to support public health campaigns and access to information through an expedited private sector partnership for internet connectivity to enable economic activities to continue during the social distancing measures and also support the effective sharing of information about the pandemic.

The statement said African countries needed support in the current situation, saying "the measures being taken in Asia, Europe and North America such as physical (social) distancing and regular hand washing will be a particular challenge for countries with limited internet connectivity, dense populations, unequal access to water and limited social safety nets."

"In line with the steps being taken across the globe, African countries are preparing for the worst effects of this pandemic."

It urged the G20 leaders to endorse for enhanced predictability, transparency and accountability of financial flows to enable finance ministers to plan effectively with civil society stakeholders helping to track financial flows to reach out to those most vulnerable.

The statement also asked the leaders to implement emergency measures to protect 30 million jobs immediately at risk across the continent, particularly in the tourism and airline sectors.

In a related development, the World Bank Group and the International Monetary Fund, have called on all official bilateral creditors to suspend debt payments from International Development Assistance (IDA) countries that request forbearance with immediate effect.

It said the decision had become necessary due the coronavirus outbreak, which was likely to have severe economic and social consequences for IDA countries, home to a quarter of the world’s population and two-thirds of the world’s population living in extreme poverty.

In a joint statement issued on Wednesday, the Bretton Woods Institutions said, “This will help with IDA countries’ immediate liquidity needs to tackle challenges posed by the coronavirus outbreak and allow time for an assessment of the crisis impact and financing needs for each country.”

The call for suspension is expected to be consistent with national laws of the creditor countries.

“We invite G20 leaders to task the WBG and the IMF to make these assessments, including identifying the countries with unsustainable debt situations, and to prepare a proposal for comprehensive action by official bilateral creditors to address both the financing and debt relief needs of IDA countries,” the statement said.

The international financing institutions will seek endorsement for the proposal at the Development Committee during the Spring Meetings, which will be due from April 16 to April 17, 2020.