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Release Date:
20 January, 2021
The publication of the 2019 / 2020 PIDA Progress Report takes place at a critical time when the world has been thrust into a crisis due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Africa has been disproportionately affected due to policy and structural gaps that have exposed her lack of resilience to such shocks. This has and will continue in the near term, to adversely affect the continent’s plan to realise the much-needed developmental goals and aspirations in many areas including, in our context, attainment of key continental infrastructure goals. COVID-19 is expected to significantly widen fiscal deficits across the continent, making infrastructure financing harder to come by. The pandemic will likely set most large-scale development projects back in the short-to medium term. However, with every problem, there is an opportunity. The pandemic presents an opportunity to re-shape the state of the world for years to come and for the better through adjusting our policy frameworks and development models. For PIDA, it means we pivot infrastructure implementation, so that it is not only responsive to our needs, but also builds the necessary resilience against such shocks. Resilience emphasises the importance of recovery and adaptation in the aftermath of disruption.