Initial modelling conducted by South African business of the potential macroeconomic impacts of the country’s response to the global Covid-19 pandemic indicates that the country’s gross domestic product could slump by between 8% and 10% in 2020 and that more than a million jobs could be lost. Likewise, the model shows that government’s fiscal deficit could rise to as high as 10% of GDP; far worse than the 6.8% of GDP, or R370-billion, outlined in the February Budget for 2020/21.
