Africa UN Knowledge Hub for COVID-19

Averting global depression Projections of the potential impact of the Covid-19 shock on economies around the world for the year 2020 vary widely. However, there is broad agreement that the global economy will contract given the sudden stop to large swathes of activity and the resulting income loss in the manufacturing and services sectors across most advanced countries and China, combined with the adverse effects on financial markets, consumption (through both income and wealth effects), investment confidence, international trade and commodity prices.

This guidance paper released on 7 April 2020, provides technical guidance to the market on issues of force majeure, elements to consider in modifying ICC rules for specific trade finance instruments, and common scenarios experiences in the delivery of documents during the public health measures undertaken in response to COVID-19.

The Committee for the Coordination of Statistical Activities (CCSA) The CCSA is comprised of international and supranational organizations, whose mandate includes the provision of international official statistics in the context of the Principles Governing International Statistical Activities (https://unstats.un.org/unsd/ccsa/principles_stat_ activities/) and which have a permanent embedded statistical service in their organization and regular contacts with countries.

“It is unavoidable that the novel coronavirus epidemic will have a considerable impact on the economy and society” - China’s president Xi Jinping, televised address, February 23, 2020. “The spread of the new coronavirus is a public health crisis that could pose a serious risk to the macro economy through the halt in production activities, interruptions of people's movement and cut-off of supply chains” - Japanese Finance Minister Taro Aso. G20 gathering in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, February 24, 2020. “Honda Motor Co.

The African Continental Free Trade Area is expected to be a game changer for development ambitions in Africa. It arrives at a crucial time, marked by the increased poverty levels and socioeconomic setbacks African countries have experienced due to the coronavirus disease pandemic, and its related financial, climatic and food-related shocks.

The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Trade and Development: Transitioning to a New Normal is a special 2020 publication prepared by an extended interdivisional UNCTAD team led by Mukhisa Kituyi, Secretary-General, Isabelle Durant, Deputy Secretary-General, and Daniel Owoko, Chief of Staff of the Ofce of the Secretary-General. Pamela Coke-Hamilton, former Director of the Division on International Trade and Commodities, provided extensive contributions towards the preparation of the publication.

Global trade growth remained strong during 2021, as its value continued to increase through each quarter of 2021. Trade growth was not only limited to goods. Trade in services also grew substantially through 2021, to finally reach pre-pandemic levels during Q4 2021. Overall, the value of global trade reached a record level of about US$ 28.5 trillion in 2021, an increase of about 25 per cent relative to 2020 and an increase of about 13 per cent relative to the pre-pandemic level of 2019.

The least developed countries find themselves at a crossroad. Beset by long-standing structural weaknesses, shortcomings in international support and widening inequalities within and among all countries, they have to confront new or intensifying problems worsened by the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) crisis, climate change, the rapidly evolving character of globalization and the new technological realities of the digital age.

The economic recovery in sub-Saharan Africa surprised on the upside in the second half of 2021, prompting a significant upward revision in last year’s estimated growth, from 3.7 to 4.5 percent. This year, however, that progress has been jeopardized by the Russian invasion of Ukraine which has triggered a global economic shock that is hitting the region at a time when countries’ policy space to respond to it is minimal to nonexistent.

In the first survey of its kind, Afreximbank, the African Development Bank and its Making Finance Work for Africa partnership and the UN Economic Commission for Africa conducted the first continent-wide Trade Finance Survey, to assess the potential impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on trade finance activities of commercial banks in Africa. Read the press release for more.