against poverty in recent years this is the conclusion of a new study published by the institute for security studies i.s.a.'s and other organizations it says that densely populated urban settlements could make the continent especially susceptible to cope with 19 as social and physical distancing is often difficult but the authors main concern is the expected fall in tax revenue and the economic impact that the crisis could have they fear a significant rise in the number of people living in extreme poverty and warn that the gap between the industrialized world and the african continent could widen. i'm joined now by jackie head of the african futures and innovation program at the i s. s. africa and one of the authors of that study welcome to the program and thank you so much for joining us we heard in the study that it warns that the pandemic could trigger a series of debt crises on the continent can you explain. yes dick you know africa has been increasing for several years and you know when you are growing at 7 or 8 percent debt may not be a problem but when growth rates in africa decline to 2 or 3 perce