COVID-19: Government Adopts Measures to Mitigate Impact on Economy

Thebe Mabanga

The South African government has pro-actively moved to ensure that economic activity is not disrupted by the outbreak of the novel coronavirus, with movement of people rather than goods affected by the closure of points of entry.

This as global markets brace for a recession on Monday as the virus continues to spread worldwide.

An inter-ministerial briefing on Monday in Pretoria adopted several measures to mitigate the negative economic and social impact of the virus.

Trade and Industry Minster Ebrahim Patel told the briefing that since the outbreak of the virus, government has monitored its impact on the global economy, where growth is now expected to be revised downwards with China and Italy, the old and new epicentres of the virus expected to be the hardest hit, along with the rest of Europe, the United States,