Cabinet asking to work together on post-COVID-19 economic recovery plan

The call was made during a virtual Special Cabinet Meeting held on Wednesday to discuss the socio-economic recovery plan, post the COVID-19 national lockdown.

Work continues to map South Africa's future - with Cabinet asking all clusters to work together to produce one consolidated document on key priorities regarding the country's economic recovery plan that will use post the COVID-19 national lockdown.

The call was made during a virtual Special Cabinet Meeting held on Wednesday to discuss the socio-economic recovery plan, post the COVID-19 national lockdown.

This follows the announcement made by President Cyril Ramaphosa two weeks ago, that Cabinet has a full discussion to come up with an economic recovery plan for the country.

During the meeting, five presentations were received from the clusters. These included Economic Sectors, Investment, Employment and Infrastructure Development; Governance, State Capacity, and Institutional Development; Social Protection, Community and Human Development; International Cooperation, Trade and Security; and Justice, Crime Prevention and Security.

The presentations were a culmination of the work done by all the Cabinet clusters, focusing on the country's economic recovery as a consequence of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the recent downgrading of South Africa by rating agencies Moody's and Fitch respectively.

Cabinet resolved that further discussions and consultations are still required before the final consolidated plan is approved to be shared with the nation.

"All the Cabinet clusters have been asked to work together to produce one consolidated document on key priorities of the country's economic recovery plan, to be completed before the next Cabinet meeting scheduled to take place on Monday, 20 April 2020," Cabinet said.

SAA report

Meanwhile, Cabinet has also directed Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan to prepare an updated report on national carrier South African Airways (SAA), for discussion at the upcoming meeting.

Cabinet will thereafter, finalize the country's economic recovery plan.

Cabinet further thanked all across the country for staying at home during the lockdown period.

(With Inputs from South African Government Press Release)