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Bloomberg reports that SA’s largest clothing retailer sees a successful Covid-19 vaccination rollout as key to reopening the economy and adding new stores, thereby helping to address the world’s highest unemployment rate.
“If we get people vaccinated, the economy can normalise quickly. If the economy normalises, we can create jobs,” said Pepkor CEO Leon Lourens. The government temporarily imposed strict restrictions to curb the spread of the coronavirus from March 2020, but subsequent waves of infections have forced some measures to remain in place. Meanwhile, SA is cut off from many parts of the world due to travel curbs, hammering the tourist industry. Lourens warned: “The current unemployment levels are just not sustainable. We cannot continue like this.” Pepkor, along with many other companies, is also battling to recover from violent unrest that rocked the country in July. With about 550 of its shops damaged, the retailer hopes to still stick to its annual store opening program of about 300 outlets a year alongside an ambitious refurbishment plan. “If we can open 300 stores a year, we’re talking about 3,000 jobs a year that we create. But that we can only do in a growing economy,” Lourens pointed out. He went on to comment: “It’s just not possible for our economy to be in a good condition while our whole tourism sector is gone, while all big events are gone. People often forget, and this is not even in the employment numbers, but for every theater production, every wedding, every sports game, the informal sector works at those events.”
- Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Janice Kew at Moneyweb
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