By Koos du Plessis, FISA member, CFP^®, FPSA^® and Sales Manager: Southern Cape for Sanlam.

 One of the key questions that consistently arises amid the COVID-19 pandemic’s impact on the economy is about the effects on employment.

As COVID-19 slows in developed countries, the virus’s spread is speeding up in the developing world.

The South African agriculture sector has the potential to be amongst the sectors that will drive economic growth and job creation during the post-COVID-19 recovery phrase. The path to realise this growth does not need new policies.

South Africa is a country of dichotomies and ironies and there is no economic sector that that typifies this more than the agri-food sector. 

A ban on the sale of cigarettes in South Africa since the country’s COVID-19-induced lockdown began in March has cost the economy millions of rands daily in the form of tax revenue lost to illicit sales of smokes, a variety of industry officials say.