Africa needs more than $200 billion to respond to pandemic, UN chief says

• Guterres told a virtual conference on Africa hosted by the World Bank and International Monetary Fund that the continent needed more than $200 billion to respond to the pandemic.

Guterres told a virtual conference on Africa hosted by the World Bank and International Monetary Fund that the continent needed more than $200 billion to respond to the pandemic and mitigate its economic impact.

To mobilize more resources, he said the IMF should allocate new Special Drawing Rights (SDRs), a step that has been opposed by the United States. An SDR allocation is akin to a central bank "printing" new money.