Letter to Governments of the G20 Nations

The African Center for Economic Transformation (ACET) and various global leaders call on the G20 to implement urgent health and economic measures to combat COVID-19. The proposal includes committing $8 billion for immediate health gaps, $35 billion for weaker health systems, and significant financial relief for poor countries, including the waiver of $44 billion in debt repayments for Africa. Economic recommendations include an additional $500-$600 billion in Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) and expanded resources for the World Bank and regional development banks to prevent a global depression.

• The authors call for the international community to waive debt repayments for poorer countries for the current year, which includes $44 billion owed by Africa, to provide fiscal space for pandemic response.
• A total of $8 billion is requested to address urgent COVID-19 response gaps, distributed as $1 billion for the WHO, $3 billion for vaccines via CEPI and Gavi, and $2.25 billion for the COVID-19 Therapeutics Accelerator.
• An additional $35 billion is needed to support vulnerable populations and countries with weak health systems, noting that nearly 30% of countries lack national preparedness response plans.
• The document argues that at least $150 billion in overall support is required for health, social safety nets, and urgent aid for African and developing countries due to the existential threat to their economies.
• To prevent a global depression, the letter proposes an additional allocation of $500-$600 billion in Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) and suggests that IMF lending quota limits be exceeded for countries in greatest need.
• The authors emphasize that the economic crisis cannot be resolved until the health emergency is addressed globally, warning that if the virus persists in poorer cities in Africa, Asia, and Latin America, it will re-emerge and prolong the global crisis.

APA

Berglöf, E., Brown, G., & Farrar, J. (2020). Letter to Governments of the G20 Nations. African Center for Economic Transformation. https://acetforafrica.org/news-and-media/press-releases/letter-to-governments-of-the-g20-nations/

Chicago

Berglöf, Erik, Gordon Brown, and Jeremy Farrar. Letter to Governments of the G20 Nations. African Center for Economic Transformation, 2020. https://acetforafrica.org/news-and-media/press-releases/letter-to-governments-of-the-g20-nations/.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Berglöf |first1=Erik |last2=Brown |first2=Gordon |last3=Farrar |first3=Jeremy |title=Letter to Governments of the G20 Nations |publisher=African Center for Economic Transformation |date=8 April 2020 |url=https://acetforafrica.org/news-and-media/press-releases/letter-to-governments-of-the-g20-nations/ |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{berglf2020letter, author = {Berglöf, Erik and Brown, Gordon and Farrar, Jeremy}, title = {{Letter to Governments of the G20 Nations}}, institution = {African Center for Economic Transformation}, year = {2020}, month = apr, url = {https://acetforafrica.org/news-and-media/press-releases/letter-to-governments-of-the-g20-nations/}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }