The World Bank

World Bank Washington Mauritanian Ousmane Diagana, World Bank Vice President for West and Central Africa, announces that he is mobilizing $50 billion for employment and $12 billion for the Covid-19 vaccine.

Question: Are we at risk of degrowth this year because of Covid-19 in West and Central Africa?

Ousmane Diagana: Yes, for 25 years, economic growth has been at the rendezvous in Africa. Unfortunately this year, covid by its magnitude will lead to an overall contraction in the economy, and this will also translate into a recession. Oil-producing countries are affected, countries that live on remittances and tourism are affected. Before this crisis, and especially over the last 20 years, the level of poverty in Africa has fallen significantly, from about 60% in 2000 to 35% in 2018, but for the first time precisely because of this crisis, we will see an increase in poverty in practically every African country.

Question: An example, Nigeria, the giant of West Africa and for Côte d'Ivoire?

We are still in the calculations, but I think there will be a contraction of about 3% of the national wealth in Nigeria.

Côte d'Ivoire is one of the countries where economic growth has been very strong, very sustained over the last 10 years, recording an average of 8% growth. I think that the impact of Covid, obviously, will not spare Côte d'Ivoire as well, but we will still observe positive growth between 1.5 and 2% this year, which is not bad.

Question: What about Cameroon?

We are in the estimates, I prefer to give you a more precise figure in the coming days, as far as Cameroon is concerned. But I think it's going to be around 1%.

1% growth will still be positive.

So to deal with this terrible health and economic crisis, the World Bank will deploy up to $160 billion in the coming year to help more than 100 countries. How much of this money will be devoted to your West and Central Africa zone, and with what priorities?

Of the $160 billion, $50 billion will go to low-income countries, so most of these countries are in sub-Saharan Africa. I must say that in addition to that $160 billion, we are also mobilizing $12 billion to help low- and middle-income countries with the acquisition and distribution of vaccines.

Question: You are talking about vaccine. In this $50 billion mainly devoted to sub-Saharan Africa, what is the priority? Is it sanitary? Is it economical?

Both. Our priority has been to provide rapid responses to strengthen health systems, protect people's livelihoods, but also create the conditions for a strong, rapid and resilient recovery.

Yes, I see that the World Bank wants to support SMEs and the informal sector and that you have very concrete initiatives, especially in CAR, Senegal and Ghana...

And I would say everywhere. In each of the countries since the crisis, we have financed very quickly operations in the sectors of health, agriculture, infrastructure and education. And we have also provided funding to help small and medium-sized enterprises resist.

Question: I see that in the Central African Republic, you finance a cash-for-work program that already makes it possible to produce more than two million masks, right?

Yes, we mobilized $10 million, most of these activities were carried out by small businesses in the Central African Republic, and so it allowed them to protect jobs.

Question: In Senegal, Kenya, Ghana, you finance slum renovation projects that create a lot of jobs?

Absolutely, I think the essence of our strategy is really to ensure that what we do contributes to job creation.

Question: $50 billion is good, but isn't it a drop in the bucket compared to the $3 trillion un Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is asking for poor countries?

You know, that $50 billion is over a specific period of time. We have wallets that existed before Covid and are very rich wallets in terms of content. In each of the countries, I think on average in West Africa before the crisis, while I look at my portfolio before the crisis, I had a portfolio of at least two billion dollars per country, a portfolio that exists and remains, and what we have also agreed with most countries, it is to look at this portfolio, to reorient it, to rebalance it, so that the resources that existed can be redirected, towards priority needs, according to the result of the Covid-19 crisis in each country. We were there long before the crisis, we stepped up our response during the crisis, and we have a bunch of partnerships that are already allowing us to lay the groundwork for an even stronger, stronger partnership to support economic recovery.

Question: Nine months ago, for poor countries, a moratorium on debt, that is to say a suspension of the payment of interest on the debt, was decided by the G20, by the 20 richest countries, but this moratorium will soon stop, so what do we do next year?

The discussions that have been held with the G20, I believe that we must already welcome the initiative and the spirit that were carried out first by the World Bank and the Monetary Fund, and which were supported by all the G20 countries, and which also require the participation of commercial creditors to make its impact stronger.

Question: The indebted countries are asking for the renewal of this moratorium for a whole more year, what do you think?

It is precisely these exchanges that are underway, it was the subject of discussions during the last annual meetings of the World Bank and the Fund, the G20 is looking into this.