PARIS – The final communiqué of the Paris-hosted summit on Financing African Economies stressed the necessity of supporting poor African countries to achieve economic recovery.
Participants in the summit, which wrapped up its activities on Tuesday, stressed that impoverished African economies must not be left behind in the post-pandemic economic recovery and a substantial financial package is needed to provide much-needed economic stimulus, African and European leaders concluded at the summit in Paris.
In the immediate term, that meant accelerating the COVID-19 vaccine rollout and creating the fiscal breathing room for African nations, which will face a spending shortfall of some dlrs 285 billion over the next two years, the summit communique read.
They also agreed to work towards persuading rich nations to reallocate dlrs 100 billion in International Monetary Fund’s special drawing rights monetary reserves to African states.
of African Economies, in Paris
For his part, French President Emmanuel Macron said France had decided to redirect its SDRs and that there had been an accord to try to get rich nations by October to reallocate dlrs 100 billion to Africa.
“Our work in the next few weeks will be to make the same rate of effort as France, starting with the United States of America, and I know all the work that we will have to do with Congress and the executive, but I am confident,” he told reporters
