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The Democratic Alliance (DA) has sought clarity from Treasury and the country’s major banks over the stagnated payment of the R200-billion COVID-19 Loan Guarantee Scheme to assist businesses during the nationwide lockdown.
The party says it will write urgently to the Chairperson of the Standing Committee on Finance to request that Treasury and bank officials appear before it and account.
The South Africa Banking Association has revealed that banks have only approved R7-billion in loans since the scheme was launched over a month ago.
As the country battles to stem the spread of the coronavirus, many businesses were forced to close their doors when the lockdown halted them from operating.
DA Shadow Minister of Finance Geordin Hill-Lewis says only 3.5% of this amount has so far been approved in loans.
“This is very concerning because this loan guarantee scheme is the most important support for businesses that government has announced to help with this lockdown crisis. So we need to understand very quickly why this loan scheme is not working why the banks are not distributing it and what can be changed very quickly in the design of this system to enable banks to distribute this money far quicker. So the DA has called for a hearing in Parliament as soon as possible with the banks and with National Treasury.”
In the video below, how businesses will benefit from COVID-19 stimulus package:
