B4SA offers R3.4 trillion parachute plan to save economy ‘already over the cliff’. LISTEN!

Business for South Africa (B4SA), in existence for only four months, is a powerful business lobby group that has been working to help fix the economy amid the Covid-19 pandemic. Among its efforts it has stepped in to procure essential personal protective equipment. B4SA has launched its proposal to get the South African economy back to growth and has proposed 12 key focus areas which it believes could boost South Africa's gross domestic product. Its message for South Africa is stark: it could be three years to recover back to pre-Covid-19 levels, if you follow the B4SA plan – or five to six years or more on the present trajectory with the possibility of a sovereign debt crisis and a failed state. South Africa is not only teetering on a cliff, said B4SA; it has already fallen over the cliff. But it can be rescued with the parachute that B4SA is offering. The business lobby has also responded to the ANC's discussion document for economic recovery and says there are areas of overlap but B4SA does not agree with the idea of tapping into pension funds to rescue Eskom. – Linda van Tilburg

The recovery plan proposed by Business for South Africa will require R3.4 trillion in funding over the next three years, which could push public sector debt to over R6.4 trillion during the period. The vice-president of Business for South Africa, Martin Kingston, told a media conference that the country has reached a fork in the road and that the actions taken by leaders in the immediate future will set the country on one of two paths. The low road could lead to a failed state. The high road would mean a commitment to decisive leadership and bold actions that would take unavoidable, difficult decisions. 

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