WHAT IS THE IMPACT OF COVID-19 PANDEMIC ON AFRICAN ECONOMIES IN GENERAL AND INFRASTRUCTURE (PPP) IN PARTICULAR?

The Most African countries had succeeded so far to master the expansion of the pandemic and the loss of humans’ lives was relatively under control. But, the economic consequences of this pandemic are still hard to assess and will be function of many factors and the structure of each country economy. Overall, a potential international economic recession which would affect IDE flows, public debt burden, commercial national and International exchange.

For the infrastructure sector in Tunisia, and as the public tender of these projects, the impact of COVID-19 pandemic would be on the strategic level as well as operational one. For the public strategy on infrastructure/PPP may be reviewed to consider the new challenges created by the pandemic as well as the new opportunities.

In order to cope with the new situation created by the COVID-19 pandemic, in my organisation, the PPP Unit in charge of the PPP infrastructure projects development, we have been working in collaboration with our public and private partners to explore their concerns and ways to cope with them. For example, for ongoing contracts, ongoing tendered projects as well as identified and prioritised projects. With the concerned authorities, we are working on a new pipeline projects that is more suitable for the current situation.

Investment opportunities are expected to slow down in the near future because existing companies restructuring would take some time and investors will also be reluctant to take risks in this confusing time. I believe that governments would plays the catalyst to boost investment through public investments