JOHANNESBURG — China must do more to help ease the debt burden of African countries facing economic calamity from the coronavirus pandemic, Ghana's finance minister said. Africa accounts for just a fraction of global cases of the disease, but its countries already feel the impact, with the continent's economies expected to contract, putting about 20 million jobs at risk. "My feeling is that China has to come on stronger," Ken Ofori-Atta said during a conversation on Monday with Masood Ahmed, president of the Washington-based Center for Global Development that was posted on the think-tank's website. "African debt to China is $145 billion or so, over $8 billion of payments is required this year ... So that needs to be looked at."

Source: International New York Times April 07, 2020 06:45 UTC