Chronicle Editor
Oliver Kazunga, Senior Business Reporter
THE African Development Bank (AfDB) has called for “fair” access to Covid-19 vaccines in Africa and debt relief to help the continent’s economies to recover faster and better from the pandemic.
Following the outbreak of the coronavirus, which was first detected in China in December 2019, world economies have been negatively affected as countries implemented national lockdown measures to contain the spread of the virus.
AfDB’s president, Dr Akinwumi Adesina, speaking at a virtual meeting held Monday this week in his honour as the outgoing African of the Year of African Leadership Magazine, warned that so long as the coronavirus was unchecked in any part of the world, no one would be safe.
“The AfDB president has called for fair access to Covid-19 vaccines for Africans and said debt relief would help African economies recover faster and better from the pandemic,” said the bank in a statement issued after the meeting.
Dr Adesina was quoted expressing optimism that African economies would bounce back over the next two years despite the threat that has been posed by the Covid-19 pandemic.
“There is light at the end of the tunnel – it just happens to be a very long tunnel. I am very positive that African economies will bounce back over the next two years, but the speed of recovery will depend on ensuring that Africa gets enough vaccines for its population.
“The world must not short-change Africa on access to vaccines,” he said.
Dr Adesina added that significant debt relief would be key to accelerating African economies’ recovery from the Covid-19 crisis.
“To recover faster, Africa will need significant debt forgiveness from bilateral and official creditors,” he said. – @okazunga
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