International Monetary Fund

South Africa’s confirmed cases of the coronavirus increased by 93 to 1,280 people on Sunday and the death toll doubled to two, the Health Ministry said, as the country entered the third day of a national lockdown and officials announced new measures to deal with the economic fallout.

South Africa’s National Treasury said on Sunday it was introducing a new tax subsidy of 500 rand ($28) per month for each worker to employers for the next four months to cushion financial losses suffered by firms due to the coronavirus.

South Africa may approach the International Monetary Fund and World Bank for funding to fight the coronavirus that threatens to drag the country’s economy deeper into recession, Finance Minister Tito Mboweni said in the Sunday Times newspaper.

The heads of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund on Friday underscored the need to provide debt relief to poorer countries hit by the coronavirus pandemic, and said official bilateral creditors would have to play a major role.

The coronavirus pandemic has driven the global economy into a downturn that will require massive funding to help developing nations, IMF chief Kristalina Georgieva said Friday.

As the COVID-19 pandemic stretches into its second month and shows no signs of slowing, President Donald Trump has pushed to relax the restrictions on travel and movement that are, right now, the best hope for controlling the disease.

Tunisia has started negotiations with the International Monetary Fund for a new loan programme, but a plan to issue bonds is on hold because of the coronavirus, the finance minister said on Monday.

Uganda will request the World Bank for a loan of $190 million to help cushion its economy from the impact of the coronavirus pandemic, its finance minister said.

The International Monetary Fund, IMF, has called for broader monetary stimulus as part of fiscal and monetary measures to combat the economic impact of the Coronavirus (COVID-19).

Sudan's economy has sunk into a deep crisis since the overthrow of longtime autocrat Omar al-Bashir almost a year ago, risking collapse and social unrest in a country in transition.

Sudan’s prime minister survived an assassination attempt on Monday after a blast in the capital, Khartoum, Sudanese state media said.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) have warned that some countries have not taken the COVID-19 epidemic seriously, saying their level of political commitment and actions is not commensurate to the level of the threat faced globally.

Oil ministers from the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) on Wednesday defied the global scare of the deadly coronavirus to hold its crucial meeting in Vienna, Austria.

Nigeria’s re-emergence as Africa’s biggest economy followed South Africa’s slump into its second recession in two years, as severe rolling power blackouts frustrate President Cyril Ramaphosa’s attempt to revive growth.

Nigeria’s economic growth beat forecasts in the fourth quarter, helping its economy to expand the most in four years in 2019 as oil output increased and the central bank took steps to boost credit growth. GDP in the West African country stood at $476 billion or $402 billion, depending on the rate used. =

The World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) have teamed up to offer financial assistance to countries whose economies are threatened by the coronavirus disease.

Zimbabwe faces a grim economic outlook this year and is also at risk of an extreme humanitarian crisis, the International Monetary Fund warned Thursday.

Nigeria’s gross domestic product grew by 2.27% in 2019, data released by the National Bureau of Statistics has shown.