Bloomberg reports that President Cyril Ramaphosa said in his weekly letter that the grants and unemployment benefits introduced to help people and businesses withstand the economic downturn that was exacerbated by the coronavirus pandemic could not be sustained indefinitely.  

“We need to make sure that these relief measures provide a firm foundation for a broader recovery without driving the country deeper into debt.  Unless we can bring our national debt down to sustainable levels, no meaningful economic recovery will be possible,” Ramaphosa said in the letter posted to the Presidency’s website.  Government would need to make hard decisions on public spending this year, he said, just days before Finance Minister Tito Mboweni’s budget speech.

• Read the original of the short report in the above regard by Renee Bonorchis at Moneyweb <https://www.moneyweb.co.za/news/south-africa/ramaphosa-says-sa-cant-afford-virus-relief-indefinitely/>

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