KeenWinBlog

Sub-Saharan Africa is facing an unprecedented health crisis from the COVID-19 and a severe economic downturn that could drag on economies for years to come, the International Monetary Fund said on Wednesday, warning: "No country will be spared." "It really is as bad of an economic hit as the region has seen in decades," Abebe Aemro Selassie, director of the IMF's African Department, said during a teleconference on Wednesday. In its latest Regional Economic Outlook: Sub-Saharan Africa report, the IMF said that the region's gross domestic product is expected to contract by 1.6 percent in 2020, a downward revision of 5.2   percentage points   from predictions made six months ago.  "Countries have been shut off capital markets - this crisis is unprecedented and calls for bold and decisive action," Selassie stressed. Immediate priority should focus on boosting health spending regardless of debt levels,

Package offers free food for 800 million, but activists say few of them are registered with scheme or have documents. Indian migrant workers, daily wagers and homeless people wait for food outside a government-run shelter in New Delhi as the country remains under unprecedented lockdown Tens of millions of Indians stand to see few benefits from a coronavirus relief package worth $22.6bn, economists and food rights activists say. Although India's relief package promises free food for roughly 800 million beneficiaries, economists and activists say few of those in need are registered with the federal food welfare scheme, or have the documents needed to secure benefits. "I would argue for universal [food] coverage of rural areas and urban slums in most states for the duration of the crisis," said economist Jean Dreze, who has co-authored books on hunger with Nobel laureate Amartya Sen. India's lockdown will push many more p