SA seeks $5bn to fight pandemic

SOUTH Africa (SA) is seeking 95 billion rand ($4,99 billion) from multilateral lenders to help it fight the Covid-19 pandemic, a senior Treasury official said last week.
Africa’s most advanced economy is talking to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), World Bank, New Development Bank of the BRICS and African Development Bank to source funding to contribute to a 500 billion rand rescue package aimed at cushioning the impact of the new coronavirus on businesses and poor households.
The IMF has said SA is entitled to apply for up to $4,2 billion in response to the crisis, and Finance minister Tito Mboweni said on Friday the government could negotiate for a facility of “maybe between $55 and $60 million” at the World Bank.
Dondo Mogajane, director general of the National Treasury, said SA “will certainly go” for the IMF funding.

“The World Bank has said …SA can access a loan of about $50 million, the New Development Bank did say long ago that they have set aside a billion dollars that we can access and again we will be accessing that,” Mogajane said.
“All in all,… currently we are looking at 95 billion rand coming from these institutions only for Covid-related interventions.”

Mogajane said the government has to do everything at its disposal to make sure the coronavirus is contained, including reprioritising money from projects that are not a priority for now and looking for new cheap money.
“I am emphasising new money that is cheap because currently the discussions obviously should centre around what the term rates are going to be. That is where we are currently, we are discussing with them (lenders),” he said.
“The IMF has said upfront that it is 1 percent interest that is available so we will certainly go for it because it is cheap.”
Mboweni on Friday played down worries in some governing party circles and within the influential trade union movement that the money would come with onerous conditions.
— Reuters