R500bn and the fight against Covid-19 - President Cyril Ramaphosa

President Cyril Ramaphosa announced that Government is putting an extraordinary budget in place of R500bn, which is 10% of the country's Gross Domestic Product to fight the coronavirus. This would include the reprioritisation of R130bn within the current budget. The rest of the funds will be raised from local sources, the Unemployment Insurance Fund and global partners and financial institutions. The World Bank, IMF, BRICS Bank and African development Bank have been approached for funding transactions. Mr Ramaphosa also announced increases to social grants and more help to protect jobs. He said he will give more details on Thursday with regards to incremental lifting of the lockdown. - Linda van Tilburg