Payment holidays to cost South Africans R20.7bn as experts warn of broken economy eNCA
When the country went into a national lockdown in March, no one fully comprehended the deep, complex and devastatingly profound consequences it would hold for individuals and businesses.
As a result, many bank clients found themselves with more than one payment relief running across different products, all activated at different times, and potentially all with varying terms and conditions. Executive director and chief economist at Efficient Group Dawie Roodt said at least three million jobs had been lost thanks to the lockdown – one million permanently. While the lifting of some COVID-19 restrictions was welcome, the bottom line was that the South African economy had been “broken”.
Debt Rescue chief executive Neil Roets agreed with Roodt that the economy was severely damaged. “Our experience on the ground shows that an alarming number of consumers are unable to repay their debt. The extent of their indebtedness has also grown substantially compared with the same period last year.
“Governments typically do not create wealth – they destroy it through reckless spending. If we begin by tallying up the many billions that have been lost to boundless corruption and look at the outright disaster which are our many bankrupt municipalities, we can get some idea of just how desperate the situation has become,” Roets said.
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