There is still no clarity on whether he’ll up spending amid claims the current package is ‘insufficient’
President Cyril Ramaphosa at a March 22 media briefing following a meeting with business leaders and political party leaders on the impact of Covid-19.Pressure is mounting on President Cyril Ramaphosa and his cabinet to announce a stimulus plan that will cushion the country from the economic and social impact of the Covid-19 lockdown.
The president acknowledged that the lockdown in response to the coronavirus has gravely exacerbated a long-standing problem as SA has been confronted over the past three weeks with distressing images of desperate people clamouring for food parcels at distribution centres and of protests against food shortages.
It remains to be seen how the government, faced with a recession and a forecast negative 6% economic growth, will respond to the calls to massively ramp up its spending. The institute supports the calls to increase social grants and goes further by calling an increase to all social grants by R500 for three months with an emergency mid-month R500 paid in April to all . It proposes an extension of the child support grant to an estimated 670,000 pregnant women and an automatic renewal of disability grants.
For Cosatu, key immediate expectations include further efforts to reinforce the capacity of the UIF to disperse its Covid-19 funds to workers who have been retrenched or put on unpaid leave.
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