COVID-19: Ten Policy Priorities for Africa's Recovery, Growth and Transformation

The policy brief argues that African governments should leverage the urgency of the COVID-19 crisis to implement lasting reforms that protect the continent's long-term growth trajectory. It outlines ten priorities divided into resource mobilization, governance, business environment, and digital innovation. Key recommendations include closing tax loopholes, streamlining government bureaucracy, improving the ease of doing business, and crowding in venture capital to support a tech-driven innovation ecosystem.

• The COVID-19 pandemic caused a severe economic contraction in Sub-Saharan Africa, resulting in the region's first recession in 25 years and a record 6.1 percent decline in per capita income.
• To increase fiscal space, African governments should eliminate tax exemptions and loopholes, particularly for wealthy individuals and global corporations. Such measures could potentially generate revenues between two and three percent of GDP.
• There is a significant disparity in tax-to-GDP ratios across the continent; for example, South Africa's 2018 ratio was 25 percent, while Ghana and Ethiopia's were approximately 11 percent.
• Governments should streamline bureaucracy by consolidating overlapping job creation or agricultural support programs and reducing the size of presidential cabinets to improve efficiency.
• National development strategies often lack the necessary financing plans to be implementable. The document suggests using these strategies as recovery roadmaps, specifically through progressive food import substitution policies to support smallholder farmers and women.
• The private sector faces significant barriers to growth in Sub-Saharan Africa, notably in digital adoption; only 17 percent of companies use electronic filing or payments, compared to 97 percent in high-income economies.
• Africa's venture capital landscape is underdeveloped and heavily dependent on external funding. In 2018, 150 digital startups raised $1.16 billion, which is less than 1 percent of global incubator funds, with 80-90 percent of that funding originating outside Africa.
• While approximately 620 tech hubs existed in 2019, they often operate in silos. The document recommends a more integrated innovation ecosystem and notes that the African Union-led Digital Transformation for Africa initiative aims for $100 billion in funding over the next decade to bridge the digital divide.

APA

Webmaster (2020). COVID-19: Ten Policy Priorities for Africa's Recovery, Growth and Transformation. African Center for Economic Transformation. https://acetforafrica.org/research-and-analysis/insights-ideas/policy-briefs/covid-19-ten-policy-priorities-for-africas-recovery-growth-and-transformation/

Chicago

Webmaster. COVID-19: Ten Policy Priorities for Africa's Recovery, Growth and Transformation. African Center for Economic Transformation, 2020. https://acetforafrica.org/research-and-analysis/insights-ideas/policy-briefs/covid-19-ten-policy-priorities-for-africas-recovery-growth-and-transformation/.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Webmaster |title=COVID-19: Ten Policy Priorities for Africa's Recovery, Growth and Transformation |publisher=African Center for Economic Transformation |date=2 June 2020 |url=https://acetforafrica.org/research-and-analysis/insights-ideas/policy-briefs/covid-19-ten-policy-priorities-for-africas-recovery-growth-and-transformation/ |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{webmaster2020covid19, author = {Webmaster}, title = {{COVID-19: Ten Policy Priorities for Africa's Recovery, Growth and Transformation}}, institution = {African Center for Economic Transformation}, year = {2020}, month = jun, url = {https://acetforafrica.org/research-and-analysis/insights-ideas/policy-briefs/covid-19-ten-policy-priorities-for-africas-recovery-growth-and-transformation/}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }