How COVID-19 Affects African Economy In 2023 – UN Sec Gen Spokesperson

Stéphane Dujarric, Spokesperson for the United Nations Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, has opined that the COVID-19 pandemic severely impacted the economies of African countries.

The business community and other strata of the economy witnessed a meltdown of huge proportions when the COVID-19 pandemic hit the world like a volcano.

In an interview with Kenya-based media organization, Voice of Africa, monitored by Prime Business Africa, Dujarric while speaking on a number of global issues, highlighted how the situation affected commodity prices.

“Public finances had a lot of big impact, countries and many economies were hit very hard because of the pandemic.

“This had an impact on tax revenues, overall economic activities, and that of course has caused imbalances in debt and difficulties around them,” Dujarric noted.

Speaking further, the French-born Dujarric who was also Spokesman for former UN Secretary-General Kofi Anan between 2005 and 2006 stressed:

“The real effect of the panic has been affecting many countries and that was what we are seeing in 2023. And this has been amplified and made worse by the recent challenges in the capital market and commodity prices.

“All these have made economic conditions very difficult for people in the (African), that is why we have highlighted how difficult 2023 has been,” Dujarric concluded.

Izuchukwu Okosi

Izuchukwu Okosi is a Nigerian sports and entertainment journalist with two decades of experience in the media industry having begun his media journey in 2002 as an intern at Mundial Sports International (MSI) and Africa Independent Television (AIT), owners of Daar Communications Plc. In October 2004, Okosi joined Complete Communications Limited, publishers of Complete Sports newspaper and Complete Football magazine as a reporter and later script writer for the Complete Sports studio. He worked there for 13 years until October 2017. Okosi also worked various times as Correspondent, Content creator and Editor at Sports Market International Magazine, Opera News, All Nigeria Soccer Media and Iconic Media Watch. He also undertook freelance writing gigs for some local and international organizations. Okosi is a member of the Actors Guild of Nigeria (AGN), Association of Movie Producers (AMP), Association of Voiceover Artistes of Nigeria (AVOA), Sports Writers Association of Nigeria (SWAN) and Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ). He has been part of cast in some Nollywood movies and radio dramas including Blood Money 2, Scores To Settle, Dead End 2, Another Campus Tale and Battle Line. Aside mainstream media and the entertainment industry, he has interests in scouting/unearthing of talents in the sports and creative sectors, exports business and property development.