Coronavirus: Fitch report reveals Ghana and 7 other African economies are at risk
- International rating agency, Fitch, has predicted an economic downturn for eight African countries following the outbreak of the coronavirus
- Fitch indicated that short term growth plans of the affected countries are at risk as a result of the epidemic
- It listed the affected countries as Ghana, Angola, Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Zambia, South Africa, Gabon, and Nigeria
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International rating agency, Fitch, has indicated that the economies of eight African countries will be negatively affected by the outbreak of the coronavirus.
Fitch listed the countries as Ghana, Angola, Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Zambia, South Africa, Gabon, and Nigeria.
According to the agency, the coronavirus will have a downside risk for a number of sub-Saharan countries including those listed above.
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Per a report by Business Insider, the risks are associated with the short-term growth outlook due to the outbreak of the virus in China.
Aljazeera.com reports that the Chinese Health Commission announced the death toll in mainland China was estimated to be 1,770 as of Sunday, February 16, 2020.
The spread of the virus has created economic chaos in China as 88 cities, including Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen, and Guangzhou, are on partial or complete lockdown.
Fitch has subsequently revised its forecast for China’s real Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth in 2020 downwards, from 5.9% to 5.6%.
Sub-Saharan countries that export goods to China are expected to be the hardest hit.
Ghana reportedly exported about 12% of its commodities to the Chinese market in 2018, making it one of the top five sub-Saharan African countries to do so; the four others are Angola, Congo, Equatorial Guinea and Zambia.
In other news, a startup based in Capetown, South Africa, has signed on 10,000 data-scientists on its platform to deal with complicated African issues.
Zindi employs the use of artificial intelligence and machine learning to achieve its objective, YEN.com.gh has learned.
The startup gives companies, government institutions and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) the opportunity to host online competitions with the use of data-oriented challenges.
Per a report by techcrunch.com, The business model has gained the attention of big corporate players such as Microsoft, IBM and Liquid Telecom. Zindi, which is in the process of raising a Series A funding round, intends to connect its module to new platforms.
READ ALSO: Coronavirus 'forces' organisers to cancel 2020 edition of Mobile World Congress
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Source: YEN.com.gh
