Employment recovered slightly at the end of 2020. But the rate of job recovery has not been enough to stem the tide of rising unemployment, which has reached crisis levels. According to Statistics South Africa’s quarterly labour-force survey, the unemployment rate reached 32.5% in the last months of 2020. This is the highest unemployment rate...Read More

This webinar was sponsored by the Government Employees Medical Scheme (GEMS). Guest speakers included Dr Stan Moloabi, Principal Officer at GEMS; Prof Shabir Madhi, Professor of Vaccinology: University of Witwatersrand (Wits); Director: MRC Vaccines and Infectious Diseases Analytics Research Unit (VIDA); DST/NRF South African Research Chair: Vaccine Preventable Diseases and Co-director African Leadership in Vaccinology...Read More

David Silver, a securities fraud and investment loss attorney known for pursuing lawsuits against cryptocurrency exchanges in the United States, has joined Coinfirm, the blockchain analytics and anti-money laundering platform company.  The London-based Coinfirm announced Silver’s appointment to its board of directors in the U.S. on Thursday, saying the co-founder of the Silver Miller law...Read More

The ANC wants South Africa to build its way out of the current economic crisis, using local industries as the major suppliers for a series of infrastructure projects, which it says will be central to a national economic recovery plan. This emerged on Tuesday evening as the governing party wrapped up a two-day virtual lekgotla...Read More

South Africa, deep in a financial crisis caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, may show an economic upturn as local and global economic activity resumes. However, to make this financial recovery sustainable, and remove us from a long-term, low growth environment, will require confidence-boosting measures supported by disciplined execution, says Old Mutual. Although there is still...Read More

COMMENT I previously wrote about how post-pandemic infrastructure stimulus spending could take us even further backwards because of the way “local content” is structured. We are getting closer to the point where we need to think about this, with the onset of level two. Government policy for major tenders requires that 30% be awarded to...Read More

The economic hardship because of Covid-19 is more likely to be felt by women-headed households in South Africa, according to the latest study by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).  South Africa is the worst affected country on the continent and is ranked fifth in the world with close to 600 000 infections and more than...Read More

Despite the stock market returning to all-time highs, many can’t shake the feeling that all is not well in the economy.  Today on The Breakdown’s Weekly Recap: People aren’t buying “the Great American Recovery” Let’s stop considering the economy as one thing Dave Portnoy doesn’t care about your principles DeFi is the Wild West and...Read More

Covid-19 is as contagious economically as it is medically. Estimates by the Centre for Risk Studies at the University of Cambridge put the worst-case scenario cost of the pandemic to the global economy at a nightmarish $82-trillion over five years, with an optimistic loss of $3.3-trillion in the case of speedy recovery.  Like the Covid-19...Read More