"An economic tsunami" is about to hit developing countries, especially in Africa, the president of the Center for Global Development (CGD) and the executive secretary of the UN Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) have warned. 

"An economic tsunami is about to engulf the developing world, and many poor countries are simply not prepared to deal with the economic, social and political consequences," warn Masood Ahmed and Vera Swonge in an opinion piece published on the pages of CDG and UNECA.

"When daily life is disrupted by shortages of medicines and fuel, the power supply is turned off because a kilowatt costs more than consumers can afford, and the price of food consumes much of the meager household income, any spark can ignite a fire of discontent," the authors write, pointing to the recent example of Sri Lanka.

"The G20 leaders can't ward off the storm, but they can help poorer countries better prepare to face it," they argue, pointing to several things that the leaders of the twenty most industrialized nations can do.

These include financing the World Food Program, securing immediate liquidity by deferring debt payments and providing concessional loans, as well as a new global financial architecture and securing access to grain from Russia and Ukraine.

"The G20 acted quickly and decisively during the covid-19 pandemic crisis; today, the poorest countries are faced with a challenge that is bigger, more damaging, and whose potential to leave scars is immense," they conclude." (Lusa)