Finance Minister, Tito Mboweni announced that the third wave of COVID-19 is on the way. Effects on the economy are predicted to be more devastating than those of the second wave, reported News 24.
In response to questions from MPs at this afternoon’s Budget Speech, he went on to state that delays in implementing much needed policy reforms have left the country ill-equipped to withstand another hit from the virus.
A year of lockdown has already wreaked havoc on the country’s battered economy. The cutting of growth projections and further rates of unemployment are all related consequences.
Mboweni went on to say that a third wave could trigger lockdown escalations, which would undermine President Ramaphosa’s Economic Reconstruction and Recovery Plan.
Fourth wave?
“If we get a third or fourth wave — and I won’t say why, but I worry that we will — it will be worse than the second and that presents a risk of instability,” said Mboweni in response to ANC MP from Mpumalanga Dikeledi Mahlangu.
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