14 February 2021 - 00:18 By Hilary Joffe
In a state of the nation address in which the economy was the dominant theme and the president s October economic recovery plan was much spun, what was not said was as striking as what was. First, there was not a single mention of the fiscal crisis in which SA finds itself, with public debt spiralling towards 100% of the size of the economy and an interest bill that already consumes about one-fifth of the tax the government raises. Second, there was no real acknowledgement of the fact that SA s economy was stagnating long before the pandemic (or that the government s own failure to effect reforms was a big part of the reason).
HILARY JOFFE: Cyril and his money people can do more to help with Ters Extending the scheme is estimated to cost only R2.5bn a month and the fund arguably still has plenty of liquidity 24 January 2021 - 00:08 By Hilary Joffe
Labour & employment director-general Thobile Lamati believes total job losses could hit 3-million as a result of Covid, and the Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF) has set aside R40bn to cover this. It’s why the government believes the fund can’t afford to extend the Covid-Temporary Employment Relief Scheme (Ters) through which the UIF has paid close to R60bn to millions of employees hit by the crisis.