Participants in a webinar on the theme " African economies in the face of Covid-19: state of play and prospects of six countries in three regions of Africa " called for the prioritization of investments, focusing on human infrastructure, the development of local capacity for value creation and intra-African trade, including in the context of South-South cooperation.

During this webinar, organized by the Corporate and Investment Banking of the Attijariwafa bank group, the first of its Digital CIB Meetings cycle, participants noted that despite the slowdown in economic activities, " opportunities remain to be seized ".

These opportunities will make this crisis an opportunity to review economic models, with a view to making the development of African countries sustainable, said Wednesday a statement from Attijariwafa bank.

" This pandemic has certainly had a health dimension (health costs) but it also includes a shock that is both exogenous, induced by the impacts on international flows, and endogenous, linked to the shutdown of production lines and a drop in income that has a negative effect on the demand for goods ," explained Sara Bertin, Chief Country Economist at the African Development Bank (AfDB), who took part in the workshop.

Quoted by the statement, Abdelaziz Lahlou, Director of Economy of Attijari Global Research (AGR), said: " We are gaining unprecedented experience, both on an African scale and on a global scale, in relation to new needs, new trends and the different visions that will result from them. I think this can only be beneficial in terms of lessons to make the most of this crisis ."

During this meeting, Ms. Bertin and Mr. Lahlou delivered a comparative analysis of the economic situation in Africa, following the health crisis. On all the countries covered by this study, namely Morocco, Egypt, Tunisia, Senegal, Cameroon and Côte d'Ivoire, the economic bill of the confinement was strongly affected by economic growth and budgetary balances, the statement said.

This online meeting opens a series of monthly debates for the community of investors, institutions and African economic operators.

The Digital CIB Meetings aim to respond to the concerns of economic operators by allowing them to debate in a periodic way on current topics, including the impact of the Covid-19 health crisis on economic growth in Africa with a clear deciphering of current and future environments and challenges.