Sub-Saharan Africa economies to contract -3.3% this year, says World Bank

The coronavirus crisis is expected to drive a 3.3 per cent contraction in sub-Saharan African economies and could push 40 million Africans into extreme poverty, the World Bank said on Thursday.

The Washington-based lender said growth in the region would recover in 2021, with economies growing by 2.1 per cent, below 2019's growth of 2.4 per cent.

"Great uncertainty surrounds the scale and trajectory of the pandemic in the region," the bank said, citing the experience of European nations and the United States, which are going through a second wave of infections.