African Govts Step Up in the Fight against COVID 19

In the recent wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, a number of African governments have stepped up the fight against the virus, seeking to cushion their citizens and economies against the pandemic that continues to take a toll on businesses.

Apart from seeking aid from international lenders, here is what some of the governments are doing.

Mauritius

The government of Mauritius unveiled an assistance scheme for the informal sector that covers the following sectors:

• Self-employed individuals will receive a financial support of 50% of their guaranteed income for the period until 15th April 2020
• Self-employed individuals in businesses for example hawkers, hairdressers, shops, casual workers, etc
• Self-employed individuals in business or self-employed casual workers whose total monthly income does not exceed $1,258 (50,000 Rs)
• Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) with a turnover of up to $1.3 million to receive a 6 months suspension on capital repayments, and another 6 months suspension of interest payments to commercial banks
• Micro and Small Enterprises can apply for loan facilities through commercial banks or DBMs. with the latter disbursing up to $25,158 to eligible applicants
• Relief to Leasees of Rental Buildings
• Waiving of Fees for Market Stalls

Mauritius announced a partial lockdown for sanitation purposes on 19th March, followed by a total lockdown on 24th March 2020.

Ghana

Ghana’s government announced the following measures:

• Government to cover all water bills for 3 months
• Health workers treating COVID-19 patients to receive 50% additional salary plus allowances
• All health workers to be exempted from paying tax for 3 months

Furthermore, the Government, in collaboration with the National Board for Small Scale Industries (NBSSI), Business and Trade Associations and selected commercial and rural banks and other stakeholders to roll out a soft loan scheme of up to about $103 million. The loan scheme, with a repayment period of two years, will have a one year suspension of payments.

Rwanda

The government of Rwanda has made the following plans:

• Door-to-door distribution of food
• Provision of free water and electricity to its citizens
• Provision of free medical supplies.

Uganda

Uganda has already started door-to-door distribution of food to 1.5 million urban poor people living in its capital, Kampala.

Nigeria

The state government of Nigeria has started distributing relief food in Lagos, saying it had budgeted for 200,000 households to receive food rations, translating to about 1.2 million people.

Additionally, Nigeria’s central bank announced a credit relief of $136.6 million to households, small and medium-sized enterprises, airline service providers, hotels, health care merchants and businesses affected by the coronavirus pandemic.

Botswana

Botswana has announced a $168 million relief fund to assist businesses to pay workers’ salaries so that none gets laid off.

See Also:

African Economies Suffer $29 Billion Hit due to COVID-19

Coronavirus May Affect Commodity Based African Economies