The Impact of COVID-19 on Banking Services, Commercial Contracts and Employment

The World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a pandemic on March 11, 2020, causing huge impact on people’s lives, families and communities. In addition to the serious implications for people’s health and the healthcare services, Coronavirus (COVID-19) is having a significant impact on businesses, financial services, employment and the economy.

The disruption and implications of COVID-19 are already imminent in the society and economy. Rapidly changing social norms, restrictions on transportation, slowdown in the level of economic activity, possible disruptions in the supply chain, high degrees of volatility in the markets and shock in the market sentiment constitute some of the preliminary challenges to deal with.

Responses from governments and regulators are intense but as the outbreak prompts high social and financial stakes with unknown outcomes at this moment, substantial adjustments and policy actions should still be expected in order to mitigate the impact of the disease in the global and domestic economies.

As a way of mitigating the impact of Covid-19 on the economy, several countries across Europe, Asia and Africa are gradually easing their Coronavirus lockdowns to allow resumption of certain key business activities.

In Rwanda, the government on 30th April, 2020 announced a partial lifting of the lockdown allowing the re-opening of certain services while maintaining closure of other services with effect from 4th May, 2020 with a review period of 15 days upon health assessment. The government further allowed public and private businesses to resume with essential staff not exceeding 50% of all employees and directed employers to provide masks for all employees while at work.

In this article, our legal team has collaborated to critically evaluate the impact the Coronavirus pandemic has had on the banking services, commercial contracts, employment and education sector.