BusinessLive reports that organised business has proposed that a basic income grant be paid to the poorest in SA during the Covid-19 crisis. The proposal has been submitted to Nedlac for negotiation with the government and labour, Business 4 SA (B4SA) indicated on Tuesday.
B4SA is a newly established organisation that unites organised business across the spectrum in a bid to mitigate the damaging effects of the crisis. “The area of looking after people who are not in employment is very much on our radar. There is a discussion in Nedlac and communities feel this is an area that has not had proper attention. We have tabled a proposal in Nedlac. There is an affordability issue. This is a question for National Treasury to start answering,” B4SA’s Rob Leghwork indicated. Martin Kingston, who is leading work on economic interventions, said it was possible that “as a base case”, namely if no interventions were made, that one-million people could be put out of work permanently, thereby swelling the ranks of the unemployed. The group estimates that SA’s economy will contract by 8% to 10% in 2020. While business had not done detailed modelling of the proposed grant, if all recipients of social grants received an additional R500, the cost to the state would R9bn a month.
- Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Carol Paton at BusinessLive
- Read too, SA business alliance expects 1 million job losses, economy to contract by 10%, at Fin24
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