Sub-Saharan Africa Needs Net Transfers, Not Debt Relief

(Bloomberg) -- The main leg of the International Monetary Fund and G-20 response to the coronavirus pandemic in Africa has been a debt-interest moratorium. While this a quick way to free up fiscal resources, it’s a poorly targeted method of distributing aid because it supports the most indebted nations, not those worst affected by the Covid-19 crisis. To get help where it’s needed most, it would be better to extend grants in line with the shock to individual economies, according to Bloomberg Economics.

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