Finance and Economic Opportunities MEC David Maynier said that job losses in the Western Cape were expected to be just under 152,000 in 2020.
Western Cape MEC of Finance & Economic Opportunities David Maynier. Picture: @DavidMaynier/Twitter
CAPE TOWN – The Western Cape’s economy is expected to grow at an average annual rate of 1% over the next four years.
Finance and Economic Opportunities MEC David Maynier delivered the provincial economic review and outlook and the municipal economic review and outlook in the provincial legislature on Tuesday afternoon.
Maynier again emphasised the massive blow to the local economy as a result of COVID-19 and the accompanying lockdown.
He painted a grim picture of the province’s economic outlook.
The MEC said that they did, however, expect the provincial economy to grow at a faster rate than the country’s, which is forecasted to contract by 9.8% this year and rebound by 3.3% in 2021.
“We expect the provincial economy to contract by 6.9% in 2020 and rebound by 3.8% in 2021.”
Maynier said that job losses in the Western Cape were expected to be just under 152,000 in 2020.
“The fact is that there are still too many people, especially young people, who do not have jobs or who have given up looking for jobs in the Western Cape and so we are working hard to support more entrepreneurs and create the enabling environment for the private sector to lead growth and will lead to the long term economic recovery of the Western Cape.”
The impact of the hard lockdown on the province’s wine industry was also emphasised, with losses of an estimated R300 million per week under alert level 5 restrictions.
Three hundred and fifty wine producers were forced to shut down.
