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Some companies have already closed their doors due to a month-long blockade, which restricted economic activity across the country as the government tried to mitigate the spread of COVID-19.
FILE: Director General of the National Treasury, Dondo Mogajane, at an inter-ministerial briefing on the coronavirus on March 24, 2020. Image: @ TreasuryRSA / Twitter
JOHANNESBURG – The director general of the National Treasury, Dondo Mogajane, said on Monday that the country’s unemployment rate could reach 40% due to the impact of the coronavirus pandemic.
Some companies have already closed their doors due to a month-long blockade, which restricted economic activity across the country as the government tried to mitigate the spread of COVID-19.
Despite the fact that millions of South Africans returned to work on Monday, there was concern about whether the country’s economy would survive the effects of the pandemic.
Certain sectors, including agriculture, forestry and fishing, and other industries, were allowed to operate under the level 4 blockade to keep companies afloat.
Mogajane said there is a possibility that the country’s already battered economy will see a major contraction.
“… It can even reach 40% unemployment, if things go as they are and it also depends on which sectors we are talking about,” he said.
LISTEN: COVID-19 and its cost to the South African economy
For official information on COVID-19 from the Department of Health, click here.
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