The African Private Sector in the Covid-19 Crisis: Impacts, Responses and Perspectives

In 2020, the Covid-19 crisis plunged Africa into an exceptional economic recession. Lockdown measures to contain the spread of the pandemic, combined with the slowdown in activity in its main trading partners and the drop in commodity prices, had a significant impact on the continent's growth.

This paper aims to outline the impacts of the pandemic on Africa’s private sector. Compared to the rest of the world, support programmes to protect the sector from the harmful consequences of the lock-down and the subsequent falling household incomes have been weak and patchy. Digitalisation only provided some form of resilience. Overall, African firms are largely unprotected against the fallout of the crisis, a reason why the recovery from the crisis will be much slower compared to other regions.