Nigeria and other oil producing countries in Africa will lose up to $65 billion in revenue because of the impact of Coronavirus on crude oil sales, the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) said Tuesday.
For Nigeria in particular, the ECA said COVID-19, could reduce its total exports of crude oil in the year by between $14 billion and $19 billion
The ECA also warned that the coronavirus crisis could dent the continent’s already stagnant growth.
Its Executive Secretary, Vera Songwe, noted that having hit Africa’s major trading partner, China, COVID-19 would inevitably impact Africa’s trade.
According to her, “although a few COVID-19 cases have been reported in some African countries so far, the crisis is set to deal African economies a severe blow.”
Songwe stated: “Africa may lose half of its GDP with growth falling from 3.2per cent to about two per cent due to a number of reasons which include the disruption of global supply chains.”
Ms Songwe lamented that “thecontinent’s interconnectedness to affected economies of the European Union, China and the United States was causing ripple effects.”
