Early projections by the SARB are that the 21-day lockdown could see 370 000 job losses and 1 600 business insolvencies.

Small businesses can apply for debt relief from most of the major South African banks and several state programmes.

Mboweni had a ‘Hallelujah’ moment when President Ramaphosa told him that the Moody’s downgrade was the trigger to pursue structural reforms.

SA emerged from the 2008 global financial crisis in strong position. The opposite is likely after the coronavirus pandemic.

The South African Reserve Bank has been infected with the quantitative easing bug, known in some ANC circles as ‘quantity easing'.

SARS has taken several precautionary measures in response to the risk of infection from Covid-19.