(Ecofin Agency) - The President of Senegal, Macky Sall (pictured, right) calls on the G20 members to extend the debt moratorium granted to Africa. “The African Union wants to work with its partners for an extension of the G20 moratorium to 2021. An exceptional situation, exceptional measures,” he said, speaking at the summer university of the Mouvement des Entreprises de France (Medef).

As a reminder, the G20 decided in April, following the request of several countries, to suspend until the end of the year debt repayments by the poorest countries, to help them face the challenges stemming from the pandemic. But for several observers, this measure is not sufficient to deal with the consequences of the pandemic in Africa.

In March, President Macky Sall had called for the cancellation of Africa's public debt and a rescheduling of its private debt. Today, the Senegalese head of state believes that although the G20 measure is “appreciable,” it remains “insufficient given the impact of the crisis on our economies” and should at least be extended to be much more helpful.

“The sacrosanct rule of fiscal discipline according to which annual deficits should not exceed 3% of GDP is now overlooked to cope with the crisis around the world ... We should consider reducing the debt burden to help Africa in its efforts,” he said, adding that “with an amount of $365 billion, the African debt represents only 2% of the volume of global debt.”

Moutiou Adjibi Nourou