This as Statistics South Africa (StatsSA) releases the country’s latest gross domestic product (GDP) figures, which have provided a bleak numerical picture of the impact the coronavirus pandemic and the resulting lockdown has had on the country’s already challenged economy. 

South Africa’s economy contracted by an annualised 51% in the second quarter of 2020 which includes the months of April, May, and June, plunging an already weak economy into further recession. This fall marks the fourth consecutive decline in quarterly GDP since last year. Agriculture was the only industry spared in what has been coined the ‘pandemic quarter’. 

When the lockdown came into effect on 27 March, restaurants, bars, popular takeaway outlets, transport services like airplanes, rail and the tourism industry as a whole came to a grinding halt. It is because of this, that household spending fell by almost 50% in the second quarter of 2020. Despite this communication and education spending – data usage in particular increased, with citizens now forced to work from home and continue schooling online. The controversial bans on alcohol, tobacco, and narcotics resulted in its 92,4% decline during the aforementioned quarter.

As already mentioned, almost all industries, apart from agriculture, experienced a decline in activity. Stats SA reveals that there was an increase in the export of maize, citrus fruits, and pecan nuts, which contributed to the industry rising by 15,1%. 

Furthermore, the public’s peculiar interest in baking during lockdown also contributed to the rise. There was a high demand for eggs, with Farmer’s Weekly reporting that egg sales rose by between 50% and 60% during the lockdown.

On the ground, small businesses have been hard hit during this period. 

In mid-April, OFM News reported on township businesses that did not have their employees registered with the Unemployment Insurance Fund and as a result, didn’t qualify for the relief offered by the government during this time. OFM News interviewed Keke Supi, the owner of popular Bloemfontein car-wash K-L-A-K, who attempted to access the Department of Small Business Development’s debt relief fund, but found out that his business did not qualify because he couldn’t present a UIF reference number.

OFM News