Already severely affected by the Covid-19 pandemic and the drought, Cape Verde is violently suffering the effects of the war in Ukraine. As a result, the government declared on Monday, June 20, a social and economic emergency in the archipelago located off the northwest coast of Africa.
Inflation there reached 8%, according to data from last May, while in 2021 at the same time, it was at 1.9%. With the loss of purchasing power, nine out of 100 Cape Verdeans are at risk of food insecurity while in 2020, in the midst of the pandemic, they were only 2%, Prime Minister Ulisses Correia e Silva said during a press conference in Praia.
By declaring a social and economic emergency, the government intends to obtain more support from the international community to be able to continue financing the measures to protect families and businesses already adopted, he explained.
25% dependent on tourism before the pandemic
“We have adopted several measures since last March to stabilize the prices of food and oil products and to help the most vulnerable families, and the total cost of these measures is 9 billion escudos. [81,6 millions d’euros] by the end of 2022”he said.
Cape Verde is therefore now committed “a strong diplomatic offensive with our partners to mobilize more resources”, he said, encouraging his compatriots to save. The archipelago’s GDP was 25% dependent on tourism before Covid-19.