A national rescue effort to save thousands of lives threatened by the spread of Covid-19, while attempting to preserve and reconfigure the economy is unfolding on a scale unprecedented in democratic South Africa.

The depth of the crisis the country finds itself in was underscored by a series of dire developments on Tuesday, with the coronavirus infection rate seeing its largest single increase in recent weeks, with 143 more South Africans testing positive, taking the total to 2 415.

And a series of economic forecasts also cast a pall, with the SA Reserve Bank predicting the GDP to contract by 6.1% in 2020 and Business for South Africa, the body coordinating the response to the virus by organised business, expecting a contraction of between 8% and 10%, with one million jobs possibly lost.

“At this stage, our central scenario is for a deep recession in 2020 followed by an upswing in economic growth,” Finance Minister Tito Mboweni said during a conference call with reporters.

Also:

The SA Reserve Bank unexpectedly lowered the repo rate by 100 basis points to take it to 4.25%.

Mboweni announced he would take a series of measures to aid economic recovery and structural reform to the Cabinet on Wednesday.

Business for SA confirmed a design for a locally manufactured ventilator and approved by clinicians will be made public within days.

A Chinese cargo plane with medical supplies, including urgent stocks of personal protection equipment, landed in Johannesburg.
But a series of briefings between Sunday and Monday have revealed the scale by which the government’s response to the virus has been augmented by efforts from academia and the private sector.

Source: News24