Citing research conducted by the ECA, Morsy said that in each of these ten countries between 60 and 82 per cent of the population lives below the poverty line, which the UN currently estimates at $1.25 a day.

Up to 40% of income for food

Based on this research, the ECA estimates that African households spend up to 40% of their income on food and that the global crises have hit the continent's poorest households hard.

"Some 310 million Africans experienced some form of food insecurity and 6 million faced extreme hunger in 2022," he noted.

Hanan Morsy reiterated that "significant levels of poverty and inequality already existed in Africa before the recent global crises. But now poverty has deepened and inequality has widened,” and concluded that today some 546 million people live in poverty, an increase of 74 per cent since 1990. And the global shocks have taken their toll on Africa's poor, particularly with inflation rising to 12.3% in 2022, well above the world average of 6.7%.

Food importers

Africa's dependence on imports makes the continent vulnerable to commodity price shocks. In 2021, 39 African countries were net food importers; moreover, Africa exported only $5.7 billion of refined petroleum products in 2021, but imported more than $44 billion.

"Getting out of low levels of income and wealth is now made more difficult by climate change, as seen with the recent floods in Madagascar, Malawi and Mozambique," stressed Albert M. Muchanga, Commissioner for Trade and Industry at the African Union Commission.

"To this we must add the looming debt crisis that could undermine all the growth achievements of the past 23 years."

Experts and ministers present at the conference noted that African countries continue to face declining revenues, increasing debt stress, and a shrinking fiscal space.

In 2022, the debt-to-GDP ratio in Africa was 64.5 per cent, significantly higher than the pre-pandemic figure in 2019, which was 57.1 per cent.

See, Africa: i 10 paesi più poveri del continente