THEBE MABANGA
THE DEVASTATING impact of the Coronavirus pandemic has finally been laid bare: the South African economy had R913 billion wiped of its nominal GDP in the second quarter of this year while the economy was in lockdown.
At the same time 2.2 million South Africans lost their jobs and four out of ten young people are not in employment, education or training, presenting a future risk for social instability.
These are some of the grim findings contained in the South African Reserve Bank’s Quarterly Bulletin and Statistics South Africa’s Quarterly Labour Force Survey, both released on Tuesday by Risenga Maluleke, Statistician-General and Head of Stats SA.
The South African economy was in dire straits even before the COVID-19 pandemic struck, but the measures required to stop its spread, including the national lockdown, have proven a final nail in the coffin.
The Quarterly Bulletin showed that the economy
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