Dr Neryvia Pillay Bell on the Fiscal response to the COVID-19 pandemic in South Africa: spending 10% of GDP

In this podcast Dr Neryvia Pillay Bell, a Policy Associate at ERSA and Senior Economics Lecturer at the University of Cape Town, discusses how South Africa’s labour market and the government budget have been negatively affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. With economic growth expected to decrease by 6%, unemployment levels are likely to rise significantly. Fortunately, the R500 billion fiscal stimulus, which is 10% of GDP and therefore one of the largest fiscal stimulus packages worldwide, will alleviate much social distress that otherwise would have occurred. South Africa is not alone in bearing the burden of an increased government deficit […]