S. African president unveils a $26 billion program for virus relief

Last updated on September 11th, 2021 at 02:54 pm

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa on Tuesday announced a 26 billion U.S. dollars relief package to support the economy and the vulnerable during the coronavirus pandemic.

In a special address to the nation, Ramaphosa announced “a massive social and economic support package of 500 billion rand (26.3 billion U.S. dollars), which amounts to about 10 percent of our GDP.”

“The impact of the coronavirus requires an extraordinary coronavirus budget… the scale of this emergency program is historical,” he said.

Ramaphosa said South Africa was now entering the second phase of its COVID-19 response aimed at stabilizing the economy, addressing the decline in supply and demand and protecting jobs.

The president said around 2.6 billion U.S. dollars would go to the most vulnerable through grants and 250,000 food parcels would be distributed among citizens in need over the next two weeks.

Nearly 30 percent of South Africans were unemployed before the virus struck. Trade union federation Cosatu welcomed the measures but called for big corporations to match the amount that the government has placed on the table.

“Nothing less than a one trillion rand stimulus plan will be sufficient to turn our already bleeding economy around and save workers from the pain of skyrocketing unemployment levels,” Cosatu said in a statement.

(CGTN)