Welcome to the United Nations
ECA Inputs to the thematic review of the High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF) in 2022.
A. Progress, experience, lessons learned, challenges and impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on the implementation of SDGs 4, 5, 14, 15 and 17 from the vantage point of your intergovernmental body, bearing in mind the three dimensions of sustainable development and the interlinkages across the SDGs and targets, including policy implications of their synergies and trade-offs:
(i) Overall impact of COVID-19.
- The COVID-19 Pandemic has impacted adversely on African countries, pushing an estimated 55 million people into extreme poverty in 2020 and reversing more than two decades of progress. The pandemic has also placed between 30 million to 35 million formal jobs at risk of reductions in wage and working hours because of reduced demand and enforced lockdowns. Africa’s growth prospects have therefore been severely affected by the pandemic, leading to a contraction of 3 per cent in 2020, though less than the overall global economy which contracted at 3.4 per cent. The continent’s growth is however expected to rebound to 4.7 per cent in 2021 and 4.0 per cent in 2022.
- Africa’s GDP growth rebounded by growing at 4.7 percent in 2021, from a contraction of 3 per cent in 2020 due to the pandemic. The recovery in growth was supported by pent up demand following the relaxation of the COVID-19 restrictions, better global economic conditions, and the rebound in commodity prices. Compared to other regions, Africa’s recovery at a growth rate estimated at 4.7 percent in 2021 was the slowest among global developing regions. The outlook is positive with the economy projected to grow robustly at 4 percent and 3.7 percent in 2022 and 2023 respectively, which is about 2 percentage points below its pre-pandemic levels. Despite the continued recovery, the pandemic is expected to impact on Africa’s output for a prolonged period, in part through its adverse effects on human and physical capital accumulation. Africa would need to grow at 6 per cent during 2022-2023 to catchup to its pre-pandemic growth trajectory.
- Furthermore, the pandemic has exacerbated fiscal deficits and debt levels due to increased spending to cushion the effects of the pandemic. Compared to 2020, African countries have experienced improved fiscal conditions, but their fiscal space remains constrained. The continent’s average fiscal balance averaged -4.2 per cent in 2021, much worse than that of 2019 (-2.2 percent), yet better off than the 2020 level of -6.3 percent. Debt on the continent is projected to accelerate quickly from the combined effect of increased public spending and declining revenues due to the pandemic. The average debt-to-GDP ratio in Africa has been revised to 71.1 percent in 2020 and 67.7 percent in 2021. Overall public debt levels are expected to improve slightly in 2022 to 65.8 percent of GDP, but this ratio remains high compared to pre-pandemic level of 61.9 percent. Debt remains a concern in a significant number of countries, especially in the heavily indebted low-income countries. The World Bank-IMF Debt Sustainability Analysis (DSA) indicates that, as of September 2021,15 African countries were in high risk of both external debt distress and overall public debt distress, 6 African countries are already in both external debt and overall public debt distress.
- Monetary policy remains accommodative in Africa as most central banks continue to keep their policy rates in alignment to easing liquidity pressures and stimulate additional credit creation so as to boost output growth. At the same time central banks remain cautious about price stability in ensuring that policy rates are not set in a manner which will further widen negative real interest rate hence exacerbate existing price distortions and consequently fuel inflationary pressures.
- The Covid-19 pandemic has exposed the fragility of health and socio-economic systems across the world, including Africa. Governments face the dual challenge of containing the pandemic while responding to its devastating economic and social effects. As countries recover from the pandemic, they need to put in place several measures to ensure sustainable economic recovery and building the resilience of households against future exogenous shocks. Africa needs also scale-up resources to recover from the pandemic, build forward better and regain momentum towards the achievement of the SDGs. Public financing is not at sufficient scale to achieve this objective, hence the need to leverage private funding to achieve the development financing needs of the continent.
(ii) SDG4
- Overall, the proportion of out-of-school children has declined over the past 10 years; completion rates have risen in primary and lower secondary education; and access to and participation in technical and vocational education and training have been improved, as has access to pre-primary education, adult literacy classes and lifelong learning.
- Since 2015, with the growing recognition of the role played by early childhood education in school readiness, several countries in Africa have expanded access to such education, through different approaches.
- Progress in school enrolment notwithstanding, the number of out-of-school children in Africa remains substantial. As of 2019, some 100 million children of primary and secondary school age remain out of school on the continent.
- There is low rate of enrolment in technical and vocational education and training (TVET). In 2019, there were only about 10 million adolescents and young people enrolled in technical and vocational secondary education – a ratio of 762 learners per 100,000 inhabitants, compared to a global average of 801 learners per 100,000 inhabitants.
- The number of children completing basic education that can read and write and have basic proficiency in mathematics remains very low in Africa.
- Countries in Africa face a severe shortage of teachers that is not fully reflected in the average ratio of pupils to teachers on the continent. Moreover, various studies, have shown that, in several African countries, both the administrative and pedagogical management of teachers suffers from serious shortcomings.
- Despite the best efforts by governments across Africa to reach children through remote learning in the context of COVID-19-necessitated restrictions, one out of two pupils, from pre-primary to upper secondary level, could not be reached.
- Education in Africa is constrained by limited financing for education; huge gap in access to and capacity to use digital resources; and lack up-to-date data on education, covering such areas as enrolment, retention, learning assessment, teacher profiles, expenditure, learning impact and others.
