Business Times reports that Alexander Forbes, SA's biggest pension fund administrator, says the rate of retrenchments across its client base has slowed significantly since the highs of last year.
The group is a good bellwether for the economy because it has a wide range of about 4,000 corporate clients and believes there are finally some green shots. Speaking last week, CEO Dawie de Villiers said late last year there had been a peak of about 4,000 retrenchments a month among the company’s client base, but the rate had now slowed to about 1,000 or fewer, which was closer to the "more normal" 600 to 900 a month before the pandemic began. "The view is, and this has certainly been substantiated through our interactions with clients, that most of them, if not all, have stopped retrenching. We couldn't find one client that indicated they still have to do a retrenchment process. Most of them are back functioning, even the hotel groups and restaurants are back functioning and getting back to full capacity." De Villiers expressed optimism in general about SA's economic recovery prospects, saying the government had started taking the correct steps regarding state-owned enterprises such as SAA and Eskom. It also seemed to be taking action against corruption and the vaccine rollout seemed to be gaining traction. “There are green shoots showing, things are looking better for the business environment,” De Villiers noted.
- Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Nick Wilson at BusinessLive (paywall access only)
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