Ramaphosa making national address now on South Africa's economic measures for the pandemic. First - public health measures and the lockdown have given us space to save tens of thousands of lives, he says.

Ramaphosa announces a "massive social and economic relief package" worth 10% of South Africa's GDP.

That South African economic stimulus package is 500bn rand ($26bn).

Ramaphosa: the 500bn rand is an "extraordinary coronavirus budget" including 130bn rand of reprioritising funds, with the rest being raised on financial markets or from multilateral lenders. South Africa has approached the IMF and World Bank among other institutions today.

Any IMF/World Bank/other official financing will be directed first for public health spending, Ramaphosa says.

"Massive additional expenditure" to be earmarked for relieving hunger, Ramaphosa says. "Millions of South Africans in the informal economy and without employment are struggling to survive," he adds.

South Africa approves a "temporary six-month coronavirus grant" alongside grant increases - eg. child support grant beneficiaries will receive 300 rand from May, and an extra 500 rand a month in following months.

The new coronavirus grant is for those who aren't otherwise covered by the social grant system or the unemployment insurance fund, Ramaphosa says.

We are "deeply disturbed" by "unscrupulous people" manipulating food parcel distribution for corrupt ends, Ramaphosa says, promising the law will catch them.

This is the background to why Ramaphosa has tonight announced temporary boosts to social grants (and a new temporary grant): https://www.ft.com/content/85ad034e-146d-4e8f-a3ad-f8d237346d6d

Just to recap on the social grant increases:
- Child support grant (about R440 currently) goes up by R500 a month for 6 months
- Other grants (eg. old age) +R250/month for 6 months
- The "Covid-19 Social Relief of Distress" grant R350/month for 6 months

Of about the 18m social grants that are made each month, 12.5m are child support grants, so that is why that increase matters in particular.

Ramaphosa pledges a "risk-adjusted" approach to the "phased reopening" of the economy after the lockdown. Repeats his previous warning that an abrupt return could re-ignite rapid spread of the virus.

Ramaphosa also promises another address soon on about life after South Africa's lockdown. "This crisis will not last forever" but "our country and the world we live in will never be the same again," he says.

Now Ramaphosa waxes lyrical on "new horizons" for the economy. "We look to a better future with optimism" even as there is great peril and great sacrifices are being made. "We shall overcome, and we shall prosper."

To recap on something else: Of the 500bn rand package (again, a tad over $26bn in real money), 200bn is a loan guarantee scheme for businesses. So that bit isn't funds that have to be raised upfront in other words.

To sum up: South Africa's fiscal response had been sluggish to date, barely 1% of GDP, but is now roaring into life to 10% of GDP, in a country that is well aware of its limited fiscal resources but now sees an existential economic threat.

If you slice off 130bn rand of reprioritisation of existing funds, factor in the nature of the 200bn loan guarantee scheme... expect numbers to be run soon on how much extra bond borrowing South Africa needs, how much it could get from the IMF et al for the balance.

South Africans, what did you make of that?