The Corporate and Investment Banking of the Attijariwafa bank group held a first webinar of its Digital CIB Meetings cycle under the theme: "African economies in the face of Covid-19: assessments and perspectives of six countries in three regions of Africa", an online meeting that opens a series of monthly debates for the community of investors, institutions and African economic operators.

The Digital CIB Meetings are intended to respond to the concerns of economic operators by allowing them to debate periodically on current topics, in particular the impact of the Covid-19 health crisis on economic growth in Africa with a clear deciphering of current and future environments and challenges.

This first meeting saw the participation of Ms. Sara Bertin, Chief Country Economist at the African Development Bank (ADB), and Mr. Abdelaziz Lahlou, Economics Director of Attijari Global Research (AGR), who delivered a comparative analysis of the economic situation in Africa, following the health crisis.

In all the countries covered by this study, namely Morocco, Egypt, Tunisia, Senegal, Cameroon and Côte d'Ivoire, the economic bill of confinement has had a strong impact on economic growth and budget balances.

“This pandemic certainly had a health dimension (health costs) but it also includes a shock that is both exogenous, induced by the impacts on international flows, and endogenous, linked to the shutdown of production lines and a drop in income which has a negative effect on the demand for goods", explained Ms. Sara Bertin from the outset. That said, despite the slowdown in economic activities, opportunities remain to be seized, among others: the prioritization of investments, by favoring human infrastructure, the development of local value creation capacity and intra-African trade, particularly in the framework of South-South cooperation. Opportunities that will make this crisis an opportunity to review economic models, with a view to making the development of our countries sustainable.