RenCap: Covid-19, cheap oil spell sharp economic slowdown for Sub-Saharan Africa

By Andrei Skvarsky.

The Renaissance Capital investment bank has revised its 2020 annual growth forecast for Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) down to 1.3 per cent from 3.5 per cent, chiefly because of the Covid-19 pandemic and plunged oil prices.

The coronavirus outbreak has brought about a “demand shock”, which “implies a sharp slowdown across all SSA economies”, Yvonne Mhango, RenCap’s chief economist for SSA, said in a report.

The sharp drop in oil prices is another barrier to growth.

SSA oil-exporting countries “will be hit hard” by it, Mhango said. Their current accounts will deteriorate and their currencies will weaken, she forecast.

RenCap focuses on emerging and frontier markets across the globe and does business in Africa, Europe, North America and Asia. It has sales and trading teams based in London, Moscow, New York, Johannesburg, Cape Town, Lagos, Nairobi and Cairo.

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