2023.02 - CORE Survey Round II South Africa v2

The first year of the pandemic cost the country R568 billion in national output, and even after a slight recovery the country’s Gross Domestic Product is expected to be R350 billion lower each year going forward, compared to where the country would be expected to be in the absence of the pandemic. [...] The evidence suggests that the primary source of the increase in digital activity over the pandemic was an increase in intensity of use by those already online rather than an increase in the number of individuals able to access digital technologies. [...] These impacts were severely felt in the initial outbreak of the pandemic and as a result of the regulations which were imposed in an attempt to curb the spread of the virus. [...] The most common adjustment of the changes listed in Figure 31 was the use of the phone for marketing and placing orders; however this was only noted for 7% of the microenterprises surveyed. [...] The fact that the number of microenterprises with smartphones is far higher than those using the internet suggests a lack of awareness of the benefits of online tools and/or a lack of the skills required to use the internet.