ADDIS ABABA, April 1 (Xinhua) -- African ministers of finance have urged immediate emergency financing of 100 billion U.S. dollars to deal with the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak on the continent.

This came on Tuesday at the second virtual meeting of the ministers, against the backdrop of rising COVID-19 cases in Africa, according to a statement from the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) on Wednesday.

Hosted by Vera Songwe, ECA Executive Secretary, and co-chaired by Ministers Tito Mboweni of South Africa and Ken Ofori-Atta of Ghana, the meeting served a platform for countries to share their experiences and also discuss opportunities for mutual support.

Commending policy measures taken by governments, the ministers noted that Africa's economy is facing a deep and synchronized slowdown and could take up to three years to turn the corner.

They have underlined on the need to take all possible actions to bring the spread of COVID19 under control in the short term but acknowledged this is an uphill battle.

The ministers have agreed that the immediate focus must remain on the health and humanitarian front, to continue with activities of awareness raising, testing and social distancing. Many ministers joined the meetings with masks.

The ministers have called for debt relief from bilateral, multilateral and commercial partners with the support of the multilateral and bilateral financial institutions such as the IMF, the World Bank, the EU, to ensure that African countries get fiscal space required to deal with the COVID-19 crisis.

They said that the debt relief should be for all of Africa and it should be undertaken in a coordinated and collaborative way, and they called for a special purpose vehicle to be created to deal with all sovereign debt obligations.

They stated that substantial drops in revenue from commodity price drops coupled with increasing costs of imports is pitting pressures on both inflation and the exchange rate.

The ministers have also agreed on the need for longer period for debt relief, and given that the global economy has entered a period of a synchronized slowdown, with recovery only expected after about 24 to 36 months, development partners should consider debt relief and forbearance of interest payments over a 2 to 3-year period for all African countries, low-income countries and middle-income countries alike.

Acknowledging the importance of the private sector for job creation and for the recovery effort, they called on development financial institutions to support private sector in this difficult time.

In addition, since Africa is a net importer of pharmaceutical products, enabling local production could serve to protect some jobs and guarantee supply of essential medicines during the crisis, they have noted.

Stating that over 54 countries have banned exports of pharmaceutical products, the ministers called for an end to these procedures.

The ministers also called for joint protocols on border closures to allow for trade and humanitarian corridors.

Deliberating on the enormous losses being incurred in the airline and hospitality industry, they also called for the protection and preservation of the African airline, logistics and tourism industry by advocating for a stay on interest, lease and debt payments.

"This is an important job creating sector for millions of Africans and must be protected," The ministers have agreed to set up a meeting for countries affected by transport and tourism losses due to the pandemic, in order to better plan on policies to combat the losses.

The ministers have welcomed the use of technology such as mobile phones to support awareness raising, identify communities in need and create accountability and governance mechanisms around the use of the stimulus.

They requested the ECA to work with the telecommunications company to design a system to support those objectives. Enditem

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