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Tanzania does not have a COVID-19 lockdown. Borders are still open for business, with strict testings and 14 days quarantine to all arrivals. The World bank praised Tanzania for not duplicating policies implemented in advanced countries"...
The World Bank warns about "catastrophic consequences to sub- Saharan countries that have copied and pasted anti COVID- 19 policies". Delusions of grandeur aside, South Africa is a Sub-Saharan Africa 3rd World country
While praising the speed in which South Africa, Ghana, Rwanda, Kenya have reacted, the WB warns that as time goes on, these approaches will be unsustainable, questions the "likely effectiveness of some of these policies such as strict confinement".
The WB points out the obvious: informal employment is the main source of employment in Sub-Saharan Africa, accounting for 89.2 percent of all employment. Excluding agriculture, informal employment accounts for 76.8 percent of total employment respectively
92.4 percent of economic units in Sub-Saharan Africa are informal. (i.e a se mo States mo).All these people don't have health insurance, unemployment insurance, and paid leave. People actually need to work everyday to earn a living and pay for their basic household necessities
The WB continues to point out the obviouser: the majority of workers have temporary jobs with low remuneration, no social security (whatever that is), with greater risk of injury and ill health
SMEs mke up 90 percent of all businesses and 38 percent of the region’s GDP. SMEs find it difficult to procure funding at the best of times, it should be doubly difficult with a lockdown
Even before COVID-19, SMEs in the region had a finance a $331b finace gap (Not Good)
As for interest rate cuts (the SARB just did this), the WB says it won't make a difference because reduced labor supply, closed businesses and the "weak monetary transmission in countries with underdeveloped domestic financial markets".
WB: "African economies still need to design policy pathways to achieve sustainable growth, economic diversification, and inclusion". IOW lockdowns are not for you, stop copying and pasting rich people. Stay in your respective lanes.
With France having extended it's lockdown to May 11, it's only a matter of time before our "fellow South African" extends ours too. Because common sense is apparently not an essential item at this point
