South Africa's economy will take at least five years to recover from the impact of the coronavirus, the United Nations said, with poverty and inequality expected to rise sharply in 2020, according to AFP.
The UNDP said GDP would decline by 7.9 per cent this year due to the pandemic and “recover slowly through 2024”, in a socio-economic impact assessment study.
Extreme poverty levels could increase by as much as 66pc in 2020, with 34pc of middle class households likely to fall into the “vulnerable class”.
In the best-case scenario, over 47,000 South Africans could lose their jobs this year in a country where unemployment already stands above 30pc.
