Tag: economic recovery

The June Supplementary Budget had already made it clear that South Africa was in a dire financial state. So, from that perspective, Finance Minister Tito Mboweni’s Medium Term Budget Policy Statement (MTBPS) offered very little in the way of surprises.

The best was left for last. If what is promised in the end really happens, we will have a real prospect of desperately needed prosperity and jobs. If we really get reductions in spending and debt, market barriers down by 50%, a seriously reprioritised Budget, release of superfluous air waves spectrum, unbundling of Eskom, private power generation and the like, we will be a freer economy. Freer economies – as measured by the Economic Freedom of the World Index – always and everywhere prosper.

The rapid changes experienced over the past few months and leading to the current relaxation of lockdown levels, has resulted in the South African economy’s recovery taking the shape of a ‘swoosh’ of a fast decline then a quick recovery that will take time to be fully realised.

On Tuesday Stats SA announced that SA’s GDP had contracted 51% between April and June (using annualised quarter on quarter numbers – in other words, this is a 17% decrease for the quarter) as a result of the lockdown imposed in response to Covid-19. The contraction was shocking – but not unexpected. Given that government took the decision to implement one of the harshest and longest lockdowns globally, the severity of the economic contraction should not come as a surprise.  

Out-of-Home (OOH) advertising was one of the many casualties of the hard lockdown, with marketers understandably finding it hard to justify their spend in a time where everyone was required to stay at home. With the levelled lockdown commencing on 1 May, movement has gradually started to return to the outdoor arena, providing OOH media owners and advertisers with new hope.

The case for economic recovery out of the deep COVID-19 recession has been given a confidence boost by the Government’s decisive response to the crisis. The praise being showered on President Cyril Ramaphosa’s steps taken to unlock the economy and the economic stimulus packages to address the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic should give the country confidence that we are moving in the right direction.

We have prepared a short summary and useful infographic following the president’s announcement of a R500 billion economic and social relief package in his address on Tuesday night 21 April 2020. The source of the remainder of the R500 billion financing outside of the R200 billion loan guarantee scheme, budget reprioritisation of R130 billion and around R100 billion from multilateral sources and global partners