The Central Bank of Lesotho (CBL) this week provided an overview of the economy amidst the global Covid-19 pandemic.
CBL governor Retṧelisitsoe Matlanyane said according to the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF’s) June 2020 World Economic Outlook (WEO), global economic growth is expected to contract by 4.9 percent in 2020, compared to an earlier projection of three percent in April 2020. She said this anticipated decline in global growth will be much worse than the downturn experienced during the 2008-09 financial crisis.
She indicated that similarly, growth in sub-Saharan Africa is expected to decline by 3.2 percent in 2020. The meeting is occurring against the continuing unfolding of the COVID-19 pandemic. While Lesotho was the last country to register confirmed cases on the continent, the number of infections are rising exponentially and threatening to put pressure on the healthcare system.
