Notwithstanding the potential impacts of the pandemic on health and health systems in sub-Saharan Africa, at this stage of the crisis the indirect economic impacts are of more immediate concern. Economies in sub-Saharan Africa are being hit by the global economic slowdown, and by the effects of national measures to contain the spread of the virus. The collapse in global trade and financial flows has hit some sectors, such as oil exports and tourism, airlines, hospitality and clothes manufacturing, extremely hard. Private capital has fled from emerging markets at record speed, bond yields have shot up, stock markets are down and currencies are devaluing. Foreign direct investment (FDI) is expected to fall by up to 20%, and vital remittance flows will decline significantly.

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