BRICS’ New Development Bank has approved a $1bn loan to South Africa as a means of helping the country rise from its pandemic-era challenges.
The group of nations which comprises Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa reached the agreement to ease its only African member nation out of its economic challenges.
“The loan will support the Government of South Africa in its efforts to contain the economic fallout of the pandemic and start economic recovery,” the bank said in an official statement.
South Africa was received a $1bn loan in 2020 to help reduce the effects of COVID-19 as its finances were plunged into by the pandemic, which has left it as the continent’s worst-hit country.
In its 2021 budget, the South African government forecasted a deficit record of 14% of its gross domestic product in the fiscal year that ended in March.
The loan by the Shanghai-based bank is expected help finance the creation of jobs under the Presidential Employment Stimulus programme. The programme was set up to create and offer supportive services to 700,000 jobs in South Africa’s public sector.