Africa’s gathering debt storm

If African economies collapse, Europe will face an unprecedented migration crisis that dwarfs that of 2015.

The Covid-19 crisis is pushing Africa to the financial brink. African governments are under pressure to continue servicing their external loans, leaving them with few resources to confront a historic pandemic and its economic fallout. Without external support—specifically, a comprehensive repayment freeze—some African economies will buckle under their debt burden. The resulting domino effect could imperil the entire continent’s development and harm richer countries, too.