Tue 28 July 2020:
The International Monetary Fund will lend South Africa $4.3 billion in emergency financial support to help the country repair the catastrophic economic damage wreaked by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The IMF Executive Board today approved US$4.3 billion to help South Africa address the socio-economic impact of #COVID19. https://t.co/ZaSgRuFaTP #IMFAfrica pic.twitter.com/VulX33c6V1
— IMF (@IMFNews) July 27, 2020
According to economists from the Bureau for Economic Research (BER), commenting on the latest developments and data published in South Africa.
Stats SA published details on food and beverage, retail and wholesale trade sales for the months of April and May. These three sets of data provided a consistent message with four key trends visible, the BER said.
These were:
- A plunge in activity during April with historic monthly and annual declines;
- A sharp monthly increase in May from the April low;
- Sales that continued to see a sharp annual decline in May;
- Activity levels that remained well below pre-Covid levels in May.
Trade data from Stats SA showed that retail sales collapsed by 50.4% year on year in April, as stringent level 5 lockdown regulations prohibited sales of non-essential goods. The print was the largest decline on record.
“Monthly sales dropped by 50.7% in April. This was followed by a 74.2% month on month increase during May as the country moved into level 4 lockdown, which permitted more consumer good to be sold,” the group said.
The main contributors to the annual decline in May were all other retailers (-6.5% pts), retailers in food, beverages and tobacco in specialised stores (-2.2% pts) and general dealers (-2.1% pts).
Meanwhile, after contracting by 35.4% m-o-m in April, wholesale trade sales rose by 29.7% m-o-m in May. On an annual basis, sales of wholesalers were still down by 20.7% in May.
However, although the month on month rebound was strong, the level of retail sales was still down by 12% on an annual basis in May, it said.
