This archive report was first published on 19 May 2020.
On May 19, 2020, the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) convened a meeting between African Finance Ministers, the Africa Private Sector Working Group, and the African Union Special Envoy on COVID-19 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
The meeting aimed to find new financing solutions to provide additional resources for countries to mitigate the COVID-19 pandemic's impact and improve the profile and terms of Africa's commercial debt obligations.
According to Vera Songwe, ECA's Executive Secretary, African countries are committed to meeting their commercial debt obligations in a timely manner and want to maintain access to international debt markets for the post-pandemic recovery period.
Discussions focused on aligning the interests of African governments and commercial creditors to address the double crisis of the health pandemic and economic recession.
Finance Ministers agreed on the importance of maintaining Eurobond coupon payments to maintain post-pandemic access to international debt markets for development finance and having an ongoing coordinated dialogue with creditors.
Kevin Daly, Senior Investment Manager at Aberdeen Asset Management, representing the creditor group, expressed the desire to support African countries in addressing liquidity pressures and ensuring they remain current on their Eurobonds to facilitate financing opportunities.
The creditor group proposed innovative financing solutions, such as special purpose bonds targeted at Social Development Goals, which could appeal to investors focused on social development issues and help ease liquidity pressures.
African Union Special Envoy Tidjane Thiam, who chaired the meeting, emphasized the need for concrete solutions and urged all parties to work together, as time is of the essence.
