COSATU shocked at news of recession Patrick Craven, National Spokesperson, 26 May 2009 The Congress of South African Trade Unions is horrified at the revelation that the country's gross domestic product (GDP) dropped by 6.4% in the first quarter of 2009, even worse than the drop of 1.8% in the fourth quarter of 2008. This means we are now officially deep in a recession, the first time this has happened in 17 years. And the fall is even bigger that the -0.7% to -5.2% that the so-called 'experts' predicted. This proves that South Africa has indeed not escaped from the global downturn and the implications are frightening for jobs, living standards and economic growth. This is a massive national crisis which requires an immediate response from government, labour and business to defend our jobs and livelihoods. The most urgent measure must include: * The rapid implementation of all the measures contained in the Framework Agreement adopted by the Presidential Joint Economic Working Group in December 2008, which rightly prioritised the avoidance of retrenchments; * An immediate cut in the repo rate of at least 200 base points to stimulate investment and demand; * Emergency measures to protect the most vulnerable industries; * A shift by the new government to more expansionary economic policies, including a radically expanded public works programme to provide work for the growing number of unemployed. Patrick Craven, COSATU Spokesperson, 082 821 7456, 011 339 4911, [email protected] --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You are subscribed. This footer can help you. Please POST your comments to [email protected] or reply to this message. You can visit the group WEB SITE at http://groups.google.com/group/yclsa-eom-forum for different delivery options, pages, files and membership. To UNSUBSCRIBE, please email [email protected] . You don't have to put anything in the "Subject:" field. You don't have to put anything in the message part. All you have to do is to send an e-mail to this address (repeat): [email protected] . -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
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