It’s back to school as 2,000 people recover from Covid-19; SA tax collection nightmare; Govt to rescue Land Bank

By Jackie Cameron

• The Health Minister Dr Zweli Mkhize announced that 2000 people have recovered from the Covid-19 virus and about 90 people of the 2 800 people have died. And the Education department has unveiled the details of the phased return of pupils to schools from next week. The lockdown eases from Friday and South Africa plans to begin reopening its schools next week, allowing students to return in a phased approach in a continuing effort to contain the spread of the coronavirus, reports Bloomberg. Classes will resume from May 6, with students from grades seven and 12 being the first to return, Hubert Mweli, director-general of South Africa's education department, told lawmakers on Wednesday. Schools have been closed since late March, when the government introduced a nationwide lockdown to slow the pace of Covid-19 infections, says the news agency.
• The Covid-19 pandemic has derailed the implementation of an Africa-wide free-trade agreement from July 1. "The Covid-19 situation has caused a major disruption," Wamkele Mene, secretary-general of the African Continental Free Trade Area, told Bloomberg.  Legally, the agreement is already in force, but in order to have made the July deadline for the start of trade in goods and services under the new tariff rules, several details needed to be ironed out as part of phase one of the process. The African Union was scheduled to have an extraordinary summit in Johannesburg next month to finalise the agreement, adds Bloomberg.
• Covid-19 will wipe more than 30% off tax collections. That, and financing some of the stimulus package, will increase the shortfall on the national budget and increase borrowing requirements, says Minister of Finance Tito Mboweni. He told Goldman Sachs that there will be "quite some substantial tax losses, probably totaling some minus 32%,". Government debt could go as high as 80% of GDP, "which we are very concerned about" and on the budget deficit "it's safe to say one must not be surprised if the deficit is north of 10% of GDP," he reportedly said. He said the South African economy could contract as much as 6.4% this year due to the coronavirus outbreak, which is the expectation of the SA Reserve Bank.
• Finance Minister Tito Mboweni said the government would "do whatever it takes" to ensure the survival of the government's Land & Agricultural Development Bank, the biggest lender to South African farmers, as it struggles to meet it debts. "The Land Bank is facing severe liquidity issues. It also came to my attention that they will be unable to pay salaries if they go on like this," he said. "It is in the interests of South Africa, and the government and the farming sector that the Land Bank is brought back to its peak," he said, according to a Bloomberg report.