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Coronavirus Inflicts More Pain on Battered South African Economy

  • Ramaphosa has little room to provide promised fiscal stimulus
  • Central bank expected to provide some interest-rate respite
A customer picks up an item from the bread shelves at a supermarket in Johannesburg on March 16.

A customer picks up an item from the bread shelves at a supermarket in Johannesburg on March 16.

Photographer: Fernanda Pesce Blazquez/AFP via Getty Images
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The spread of the coronavirus dealt another body blow to a South African economy already in recession and reeling from power shortages, and there’s little the government can do to counter it.