In South Africa, about 60% of small or medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) have fired workers or considering letting workers go, while in the rest of the continent about 20 million jobs are at risk because of the outbreak which has hurt economic growth. Stakeholders like Tora, the market development director of the Global Steering Group (GSG) for Impact Investment, are concerned the pandemic will erase economic gains made by countries such as Ghana, one of the only African countries on track to meet the U.N.’s global development goals.

In Africa, banks have a poor track record of lending to small businesses, which they view as risky and more prone to not paying back creditors. Only 20% of SMEs on the continent are currently accessing bank financing. The GSG report outlined strategies for dealing with the economic pain, such as boosting funding for microfinance institutions that have proven adept at extending credit to SMEs. Tora urges investors to review the work of a group of stakeholders who are in the process of creating an emergency liquidity fund to support SMEs.