President of the African Development Bank (AfDB), Akinwumi Adesina, says the continent needs to start producing and not beg for COVID-19 vaccines.
Adesina said this during the opening ceremony of the 2021 meetings of the AfDB on Wednesday.
“The effects of the pandemic on the continent’s economy have been massive. Africa’s stimulated GDP losses are estimated between $145 billion and $190 billion,” he said.
“Africa will need a lot of resources to support its recovery. Real income sub-Saharan African countries alone will need $245 billion by 2030, while all sub-Saharan African countries will need $425 billion by 2030.
“And the challenge of development just got even harder as 30 million people fell into extreme poverty, and an estimated 39 million people could fall into poverty by the end of 2021.”
Adesina said AfDB supported African economies by launching a $3 billion social impact fund on global capital markets and a $10 billion crisis response facility during the pandemic.
He said the bank also provided $28 million to the Africa Centres for Disease Control to tackle the spread of COVID-19, and expressed optimism that economies across the continent are on the road to recovery, with an average projected growth in GDP of 3.4 percent in 2021.
He said the recovery is based on access to vaccines and debt resolution.
