Lockdown consequences: Africa falls further into poverty, 1 in 5 US children face food insecurity, UK faces worst economic crisis since 1706

Drago Bosnic
Fort Russ
Wed, 06 May 2020 12:00 UTC

Almost 70% of Africans said food and water would be a problem during a 14-day lockdown, while more than half would run out of money, a new report found on Tuesday. African countries have quickly imposed the lockdown policies, but they need to find a balance between reducing transmission while preventing social and economic disruption, according to a report conducted by global market research firm IPSOS.

The research was conducted in collaboration with the Africa Centers for Disease Control (CDC), the World Health Organization (WHO) and other partners, DPA reported.

"COVID-19 is not just a health crisis; it's a political and social crisis as well," said Africa CDC Director John Nkengasong.

The new findings will help countries make strategic decisions on relaxing their lockdowns, given that the economic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic will hit already vulnerable populations the hardest, said Matshidiso Moeti, WHO Africa regional director.

After interviewing almost 21,000 people from 28 cities in 20 African countries on potential COVID-19 stay-at-home measures, the report also stressed important information gaps in many nations across the continent. One-third of respondents said they don't have enough information about the coronavirus, including how it spreads and how to protect themselves.

Around 44% of those interviewed across Africa believe the virus is a threat to them personally.

"This report highlights the large information gaps on COVID-19 which exist in Africa and threaten response efforts," said Moeti.

African nations faced particular hurdles during the pandemic, due to their large percentages of vulnerable populations, limited safety nets and critical scarcity of health care workers, according to the report.

"The most successful response to COVID-19 in Africa must consider context and adaptability, and must be data-driven," said Nkengasong.

The report didn't provide any advice on how to "find balance" between the lockdown and the continuation of economic activities. Africa, a longtime victim of neoliberal imperialism and colonialism, is extremely sensitive to economic disruption and debt schemes. As a major source of rare-earth elements, it is very vulnerable to debt, as it can only repay the debt to global banking cartels in its natural resources.

Comment: RT reports on the unprecedented food insecurity in the US:

A new study has found that children in the United States are suffering the highest rate of food insecurity ever recorded in the country, as tens of millions of Americans are barred from working under coronavirus-induced lockdowns.

Food insecurity for American children was significantly worse in April than during any year since 2001, before which point no comparable data is available, according to research published on Wednesday by the Brookings Institution.

"Looking over time, particularly to the relatively small increase in child food insecurity during the Great Recession, it is clear that young children are experiencing food insecurity to an extent unprecedented in modern times." wrote Brookings researcher Lauren Bauer, who called the findings "alarming."

© Reuters / Andrew Hay

FILE PHOTO: Volunteers hand out free groceries at a drive-by aid station, providing food to families and children in New Mexico during the Covid-19 crisis.

Citing two nationally representative surveys, Bauer found that by the end of April, one in five US households - and two in five households with children 12 and under - could not afford enough food "often," or "sometimes," figures she said were "higher than they have ever been on record." Compared to 2018, food insecurity for households with children under 18 had seen a 130 percent spike.

While the research did not investigate the causes of the surge in food shortages for households with children, the soaring figures come as more than 30 million Americans file for unemployment benefits, thrown out of work by Covid-19 containment measures that have shuttered wide swathes of the US economy. The true number of workers out of a job is likely higher, however, given that some are not eligible for benefits, while others simply never apply to receive them. And though Congress has passed a number of relief packages worth trillions of dollars, many have found the aid insufficient to keep their families afloat for weeks, or even months, under lockdown.

Thousands of residents have taken to the streets to protest the containment policies across a handful of states, demanding they be allowed to return to work. The demonstrations have been spurred on by US President Donald Trump, who has urged some governors to "liberate" their citizens, arguing that "we can't let the cure be worse than the problem itself."

Despite the pressure from the commander in chief and their own citizens, the governors have approached reopening cautiously, fearing a resurgence of the virus, which has infected more than 1.2 million people in the US and killed in excess of 73,000. According to federal guidelines, states should not lift their containment policies before observing a steady fall in new infections for two weeks straight, and are expected to carry out widespread testing for the virus.

Short of ending the lockdowns keeping millions from earning a livelihood, Bauer recommended ways the government could mitigate the country's fast-growing food insecurity problem - including increasing food benefits under the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), as well as broadening eligibility for the Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) card, which provides low-income residents with funds for food and other essentials.

The world's economic situation was precarious before the lockdown now the UK and a great many other countries, particularly those that implemented the draconian measures, will likely suffer a worse fate:

The coronavirus pandemic is set to plunge the British economy into one of the deepest recessions ever, shaving 14 percent off the country's gross domestic product, according to a Bank of England forecast.

The central bank said that the coronavirus outbreak has led to an "unprecedented" situation for the global economy. Evaluating the toll the crisis is set to take on the UK, the bank said that apart from a sharp fall in GDP over the first half of the year, it will also result in a "substantial" hike in unemployment.

© Reuters / Toby Melville

FILE PHOTO: The Bank of England, London, Britain

In real terms, that would mean the nation's GDP may fall close to 30 percent in the second quarter of 2020 compared to the end of last year, the bank's latest Monetary Policy Report says. After shrinking around three percent in the first three months of this year, the UK economy is set to face a 25 percent decline in the three months to June. The two successive quarters of contraction would mean that the UK will enter a technical recession, defined as two consecutive quarters of economic decline.

For the year as a whole, the nation's economy is expected to contract by 14 percent. It would be the sharpest drop since 1706, according to historical Bank of England data.

On the bright side, the bank predicts that economic growth to rapidly pick up, with the recovery expected to be much faster than after the 2008 economic crisis. The UK's GDP is set to hit pre-Covid levels in the second half of next year and could further rise three percent in 2022. However, the scenario is built on the assumption that the worst days of the pandemic would be over. The report stressed that the outlook for the economy is "unusually uncertain."

"Economic prospects are highly dependent on the evolution of the pandemic and how governments, households and businesses continue to respond to it," the bank's governor, Andrew Bailey, said in a statement.

As the central bank decided to leave interest rates intact - at the historic low of 0.1 percent - Bailey said that it could take "further action as necessary" to support the economy amid the coronavirus crisis. While the members of the nine-member monetary policy committee (MPC) voted unanimously to keep interest rates unchanged for now, they were divided on whether to inject more stimulus into the economy. On Thursday, two members of the MPC voted to increase the quantitative easing program by another £100 billion ($123 billion). In March, the committee agreed to increase the stock of asset purchases by £200 billion ($246 billion) to a total of £645 billion ($795 billion).