28 Jul 2020

Government is developing an Economic Recovery and Transformation Plan (ERTP) with the aim to support the general business environment. 

When answering a question in Parliament,  the Minister of Finance and Economic Development, Dr Thapelo Matsheka said beyond the stabilisation period, ERTP would provide medium and long term-term measures to mitigate the economic impact of the pandemic, support businesses and underpin the restoration of economic growth. 

“ERTP specifically recognises the tourism industry as being the industry that is hardest hit due to COVID-19 and will likely to be amongst the slowest to recover from the pandemic,” he said. 

He said the industry may need support beyond the economic stabilisation period while discussions on how best the tourism industry could be assisted were ongoing

Dr Matsheka also said the government responded to the COVID-19 pandemic through the Economic Response Plan where P350 million was spent on food hampers to 429 255 households. 

Also through the Economic Response Plan, 200 000 personnel from approximately 16 000 companies were assisted at an estimated cost of P807 million. 

For businesses, Minister Matsheka said a number of measures were put in place for the purpose of business stability which included the implementation of various interventions such as loan guarantee, reduction of the bank rate, restructuring of existing loans to extend the loan repayments period and BURS allowing deferral of 75 per cent of any quarterly payments between March and September 2020. 

Dr Matsheka was answering a question from Maun West MP, Mr Dumelang Saleshando, who wanted to know measures put in place to address risks facing businesses, workers and households on account of COVID-19,  including support for households that may lose their income and not be able to service their mortgages and other financial commitments to banks. 

He also asked about interventions for tourism operators that faced mounting cancellation by international tourists. ends