South Africa entered a 21-day lockdown on Friday, with people restricted to their homes and most businesses shuttered. The country has reported 1,187 cases of coronavirus and now almost certainly faces a deep recession.
On Friday, the country lost its last investment-grade credit rating when Moody's downgraded South Africa to junk, citing persistently weak growth, fast-rising debt and the impact of an unreliable electricity supply.
"We take no ideological position in approaching the IMF and World Bank. They are creating facilities for this environment and SA should also take advantage of those facilities in order to relieve pressure on the fiscus," Mboweni said in the interview.
Reuters