DA welcomes Covid-19 Economic Stimulus package

21 April 2020

The Democratic Alliance (DA) welcomes President Ramaphosa’s announcement tonight of a suite of economic support measures to counteract the effects of the coronavirus pandemic on individual South Africans, on businesses and on our economy as a whole. This R500bn package will bring much needed relief to South Africans through grants, business relief, tax measures, additional healthcare budget and food programmes.

Many of the measures announced tonight echo those the DA has been calling for to safeguard not only the lives but also the livelihoods of millions of South Africans hit hard by the lockdown to contain the spread of Covid-19. The President has our support in rolling out these interventions. He also has our support for the economic reforms he committed to, because without such reforms this R500bn injection will be short-lived and ultimately wasted.

It is encouraging that the President spoke tonight of approaching institutions such as the IMF and World Bank for the bulk of the funding for this package, particularly since these institutions have made available low interest, unconditional loans specifically for Covid-19 relief.

It is also encouraging to hear the President speak of a phased re-opening of the economy following on a risk-adjusted approach based on scientific evidence. This is essentially the Smart Lockdown plan the DA proposed last week, and is critical to starting our economy up again. We look forward to the details of this plan.

The DA will respond in detail to this Economic Stimulus Package in a press conference at 12:00 tomorrow (22 April 2020), where John Steenhuisen along with the Shadow Minister for Health, SiviweGarube, and the Shadow Minister for Finance, Geordin Hill-Lewis, will discuss both the health and the economic aspects of this stimulus package. This press conference will be broadcast live on the DA’s Facebook page.

Issued by John Steenhuisen,Leader of the Democratic Alliance, 21 April 2020