As the devastating social and economic impacts of the pandemic manifested themselves in the United States, the UK, France, Italy and Spain, the IMF and World Bank duly announced emergency credit lines for roughly two dozen African countries.
Uganda’s example is a cautionary tale of the inherent risks in the Covid-19 debt relief bonanza.
Until now, Uganda has been the only country in the region with a debt to GDP ratio below the critical 50 per cent threshold.
From the concerted campaign for debt cancellation and payment holidays that has been mounted by African leaders, it would seem that secretly, they hope their slate will be wiped clean by benevolent Western donors.
The major obstacle to such a prospect however, is the West’s insistence that China, which holds a huge chunk of African debt, must be part of any multilateral debt relief effort for the continent.
