2 - Governance Issues and the Covid-19 Pandemic in West Africa: Are There Any Linkages?
Corresponding Author(s) : Félix N'Zue
Africa Development,
Vol. 48 No. 2 (2023): Africa Development: Special Issue on Covid-19 Pandemic and African Economies (Including a Revised Text of the Second Thandika Mkandawire Annual Memorial Lecture)
Abstract
This article contributes to a better understanding of the possible interaction between the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic in the ECOWAS countries and the state of governance. More specifically, it determines the relationship between governance and the number of Covid-19 confirmed cases by the end of September 2021, the relationship between tourist arrivals and external debt and the number of confirmed cases. The data was collected over 2020 and 2021. Correlation and multiple regression analysis were used to assess the strength of association between the variables and possible causation respectively. The study found positive and significant correlation between all the governance variables, except for political stability. There was a strong association between tourist arrivals, external debt, and infection rates. Governance did not significantly impact the infection rate, whereas the number of tourists and per capita external debt did so significantly. It is therefore recommended that more stringent actions be taken to reinforce safety measures at all entry points in the ECOWAS region and that development partners look closely at the reliability of the numbers of confirmed cases to ensure th t the data collected is not manipulated simply to attract foreign resources.
Keywords
Download Citation
Endnote/Zotero/Mendeley (RIS)BibTeX
- ECOWAS, 2020, Évaluation de la mise en œuvre des décisions des chefs d’état sur l’impact de la Covid-19 sur l’économie de la CEDEAO. Department of Macroeconomic Policy and Economic Research. ECOWAS Commission.
- Farzanegan, M.R., 2021, The Effect of Public Corruption on Covid-19 Fatality Rate: A Cross-Country Examination, CESifo Working Paper No. 8938. https://www.cesifo.org/en/publications/2021/working-paper/effect-public-corruption-covid-19-fatality-rate-cross-country
- Farzanegan, M.R., Gholipour, H.F., Feisi, M., Nunkoo, R. and Andargoli, A.E., 2021, International Tourism and Outbreak of Coronavirus (Covid-19): A Cross-Country Analysis, Journal of Travel Research, Vol. 60, No. 3, pp. 687–692.
- Gössling, S., Scott, D. and Hall, C.M., 2020, Pandemics, tourism and global change: A rapid assessment of Covid-19, Journal of Sustainable Tourism, Vol. 29 , No. 1, pp. 1–20. DOI.org/10.1080/09669582.2020.1758708.
- Ha e, T. and Webster, S., 2020, Oxford Covid-19 Government Response Tracker. https://www.bsg.ox.ac.uk/research/covid-19-government-response-tracker
- International Monetary Fund (IMF), 2021a, Catastrophe containment and relief trust: Fourth tranche of debt service relief in the context of the Covid-19 pan- demic and approval of additional beneficiary member countries. Washington, DC: IMF http://www.imf.org/external/pp/ppindex.aspx.
- International Monetary Fund (IMF), 2021b, Regional economic outlook. Sub-Saharan Africa: navigating a long pandemic. Washington, DC: IMF.
- Steingrüber, S., Kirya, M., Jackson, D. and Mullard, S., 2020, Corruption in the time of Covid-19: A double-threat for low-income countries. Bergen: U4 Anti- Corruption Resource Centre, Chr. Michelsen Institute (U4 Brief 2020:6) https://www.u4.no/publications/corruption-in-the-time-of-covid-19-a-double-threat-for-low-income-countries
- Teremetskyi, V., Duliba, Y., Kroitor, V., Korchak, N. and Makarenko, O., 2021, Corruption and strengthening anti-corruption efforts in healthcare during the pandemic of Covid-19, Medico-Legal Journal, Vol. 89, No. 1, pp. 25–28. DOI:10.1177/0025817220971925.
- West African Health Organization (WAHO), 2020, Epidemiological Newsletter, EPIW No. 8.
- World Bank, 2021a, Global Economic Prospects. Washington, DC: World Bank.
- World Bank, 2021b, World Development Indicators. Washington, DC: World Bank.
References
ECOWAS, 2020, Évaluation de la mise en œuvre des décisions des chefs d’état sur l’impact de la Covid-19 sur l’économie de la CEDEAO. Department of Macroeconomic Policy and Economic Research. ECOWAS Commission.
Farzanegan, M.R., 2021, The Effect of Public Corruption on Covid-19 Fatality Rate: A Cross-Country Examination, CESifo Working Paper No. 8938. https://www.cesifo.org/en/publications/2021/working-paper/effect-public-corruption-covid-19-fatality-rate-cross-country
Farzanegan, M.R., Gholipour, H.F., Feisi, M., Nunkoo, R. and Andargoli, A.E., 2021, International Tourism and Outbreak of Coronavirus (Covid-19): A Cross-Country Analysis, Journal of Travel Research, Vol. 60, No. 3, pp. 687–692.
Gössling, S., Scott, D. and Hall, C.M., 2020, Pandemics, tourism and global change: A rapid assessment of Covid-19, Journal of Sustainable Tourism, Vol. 29 , No. 1, pp. 1–20. DOI.org/10.1080/09669582.2020.1758708.
Ha e, T. and Webster, S., 2020, Oxford Covid-19 Government Response Tracker. https://www.bsg.ox.ac.uk/research/covid-19-government-response-tracker
International Monetary Fund (IMF), 2021a, Catastrophe containment and relief trust: Fourth tranche of debt service relief in the context of the Covid-19 pan- demic and approval of additional beneficiary member countries. Washington, DC: IMF http://www.imf.org/external/pp/ppindex.aspx.
International Monetary Fund (IMF), 2021b, Regional economic outlook. Sub-Saharan Africa: navigating a long pandemic. Washington, DC: IMF.
Steingrüber, S., Kirya, M., Jackson, D. and Mullard, S., 2020, Corruption in the time of Covid-19: A double-threat for low-income countries. Bergen: U4 Anti- Corruption Resource Centre, Chr. Michelsen Institute (U4 Brief 2020:6) https://www.u4.no/publications/corruption-in-the-time-of-covid-19-a-double-threat-for-low-income-countries
Teremetskyi, V., Duliba, Y., Kroitor, V., Korchak, N. and Makarenko, O., 2021, Corruption and strengthening anti-corruption efforts in healthcare during the pandemic of Covid-19, Medico-Legal Journal, Vol. 89, No. 1, pp. 25–28. DOI:10.1177/0025817220971925.
West African Health Organization (WAHO), 2020, Epidemiological Newsletter, EPIW No. 8.
World Bank, 2021a, Global Economic Prospects. Washington, DC: World Bank.
World Bank, 2021b, World Development Indicators. Washington, DC: World Bank.