Jobless people and informal traders are amongst those who will be the hardest-hit by the economic impact of the nationwide lockdown, an expert has said.
Duma Gqubule, the Director of the Centre for Economic Development and Transformation, was speaking on The Special Focus when he raised concerns about the "unacceptable price" that the poor will have to pay as a direct result of the lockdown. He said that the most vulnerable people include unemployed people and informal traders.
"The most vulnerable people in society are the unemployed [and] informal traders. People who are retrenched have to pay an unacceptable price. The middle class won't suffer that much." This comes as attention turns towards the economic impact of the coronavirus and the nationwide lockdown that has seen small businesses take a knock and made job losses certain. Gqubule said that it is "irresponsible" for the government to shutdown the a large portion of economy while "not having a plan to address the economic impact of that". Professor Imraan Valodia of the University of Witwatersrand also said that that the government needs to develop a protocol that will allow them to manage the health crisis and do less harm to the economy. He said: "If we continue with a full lockdown, the economic cost of that will continue to spiral and the unemployment rate will go up. Tax revenue will go down and the problems we have will just be amplified." Listen to the full discussion here:
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AuthorZahid Jadwat is a South African writer, columnist, podcaster and radio show host. Archives
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