After the lockdown: macroeconomic adjustment to the COVID-19 pandemic in sub-Saharan Africa

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic is ripping around most of the world, but not in Africa; at least, not yet. At the same time, the policy response is remarkably uniform: most of sub-Saharan Africa went into lockdown from the second week in March. What happens next for the pandemic across Africa is uncertain, but the March lockdowns are unlikely to have contained the epidemic by themselves. What is clear is that the combination of domestic lockdowns and the spill-over from the global recession means immediat…