The Socio-economic impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic: Evidence from Comesa region report shows that COMESA (Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa) has experienced shrinkage in economic growth, with only six out of 21 countries expected to post positive growth for 2020.
The pandemic has wiped out 4.6% of COMESA’s economic growth this year and seen the bloc slump to a 0.6% growth, compared to a 5.2% growth in 2019.
The report further states that except for Uganda, Kenya, Rwanda, Ethiopia, Malawi, and Egypt, all other countries are projected to have negative growth rates post COVID-19 pandemic.
However, oil, resource, and tourism-dependent countries are the most hit, while more diverse non-resource economies like Rwanda will be more resilient. Furthermore, agriculture-based businesses have only experienced a marginal impact of Covid-related restrictions.
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Additionally, for countries that are dependent on resource exports like gold and oil, the slump in exports of such commodities will see regional economies contract by -3%, representing almost 7% below IMF’s forecast 12 months ago.
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