The Covid-19 pandemic represents a significant, largely unanticipated, shock to the market, driving primary macroeconomic indicators away from their typical equilibrium levels. In South Africa, it has been argued that this has been the cause of the current recession, as well as rating downgrades, although there is also a strong argument that South Africa was already on this downward track. This latter argument is based on the state of major economic indicators, such as Gross Domestic Profit (GDP), the budget deficit, the unemployment rate and a weakening exchange rate.