Social and medical measures to try and limit the spread of the virus have been combined with low interest rates and state support to help both businesses and individuals survive economically.

These extraordinary measures are helping in the short term. However, the long-term implication for the economy and the financial markets is not very clear.

South Africa finds itself in a particularly vulnerable place given our weakened economic position going into this crisis – rising debt, falling tax collection and an increase in the already high level of unemployment.

Successful investing for retirement savings requires managing behavioural biases and irrational decision- making. One aspect of this is to avoid getting caught up in the daily, often hourly, news flow, which is typically biased to the negative. Bad news sells, encouraging news less so. Combined with 'fake news', it can be difficult to sift true from false, and to identify important trends from the many distractions. It is essential to avoid allowing 'noise' to drive investment decisions.

In the midst of uncertainty, the bigger picture provides valuable insights. Considering the history of world economies, the overall trajectory has always been upwards, despite experiencing setbacks that have sometimes stretched over many years.

Historically we have always found ways to overcome challenges – through innovation and cooperation. This is reflected in the history of the global financial and investment markets and we see no reason to believe it will be any different with the coronavirus pandemic.

The chart above shows the performance of the Fund’s main portfolio, net of investment fees, compared to inflation.

There was a significant crash in investment markets in March 2020, with market values falling by almost a third in a very short period of time. Turning to the performance of your Fund’s main investment portfolio, you will see that the Fund’s performance has recovered since then. Over the past year it has been positive, but has lagged inflation.

We must caution, however, that investment markets are experiencing volatility and are at times reacting rather wildly to developments. This makes it almost impossible to read anything into short-term investment performance.

The future is always uncertain, and even more so in the shadow of the coronavirus pandemic. We expect that this will continue to be reflected in the returns on investments over the next few years, with returns likely to be low and volatile.

You can be confident that the Board, together with the Fund’s investment advisers, continues to pay particular attention to the Fund’s investment strategy and its implementation, to ensure that it remains appropriate in the current extraordinary circumstances.