Lockdown has ravaged finances
40%: LESS THAN HALF HAVE SAVINGS TO LAST A MONTH
48% of consumers believe that they are worse off financially than last year.
Results from the 2020 Covid-19 special report of Old Mutual Savings and Investment Monitor are horrifying. This is as one would expect in a country where a study last week revealed three million jobs were lost between February and April. Sampling for the monitor was done between 29 May and 23 June.
Seven out of 10 households earning less and 8% who are not earning at all.
‘Devastating’ knock for 41% of low-income workers
More than four out of 10 workers earning between R5 000 and R9 999 per month have seen their incomes drop by between half and 74.9%.
This is not surprising, especially given the entire hospitality sector is in ICU and the retail and manufacturing sectors (aside from essential goods) only reopened in June.
Higher income earners have been noticeably more insulated.
Nearly two thirds of those 50+ say their financial situation is worse for those earning R20 000 or over monthly.
Only 5. 40% have enough savings to last a month
Four in 10 have enough money only to last a month or less, up from 28% in 2019. Again, the deterioration over the past year among those earning more than R20 000 per month is marked.
Sharp increase in personal loans
There has been a significant increase in personal loans, with those having taken a loan from a financial institution more than doubling to 43%. Only 34% of those say they are meeting the repayments comfortably, with a further one in three saying they are “struggling but managing for now”.
A further third are starting to fall behind (22%) or no longer able to make repayments at all (10%).