The President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has painted a dire picture of the war in Ukraine on the lives of Africans.
The President addressing the 77th United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) reiterated the impact of the COVID-19 and Russia Ukraine War on global economy especially African Countries.
Akufo-Addo said, the war in Ukraine has exacerbated the plight of African countries bringing about shortage in food supply and rising inflation.
“Two years ago, our world came to a thundering halt, as we cowered from health pandemic from an unknown, malicious virus, couple with a devastating global economic pandemic. High budget deficits were no longer concerns of only developing nations.
“By 2021, COVID-19 had pushed Africa into the worst recession for half a century. A slump in productivity and revenues, increase pressure on spending and spiraling public debts confronted us without relent,” he said.
Touching on the war in Ukraine, the president said the Russia invasion has aggravated the already dire situation.
“As we grapple with these economic challenges, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine burst upon us, aggravating an already difficult situation.
“It is not just the dismay that we feel at seeing such deliberate devastation of cities and towns in Europe in the year 2022, we are feeling this was directly in our lives in Africa.” He said.
He added that, the Russia invasion has created an economic turmoil in global inflation which Africa has received it fair share.
“Every bullet, every bomb, every shell that hits a target in Ukraine, hits our pockets and our economies in Africa. The economic turmoil in global with inflation as the number one enemy this year,” he submitted.
Government has insisted that the downturn of the economy is largely attributed to the impact of Covid-19 and the recent Russia invasion of Ukraine.
These assertions have been corroborated by international bodies such as the International Monetary Fund and World Bank.
source: theGhanaianvoice.com