(Bloomberg) -- South Africa’s biggest labor organization and the country’s main business lobby are pushing the government to find a way to utilize an unemployment fund worth about $11 billion to fight the effects of the coronavirus outbreak.

The Congress of South African Trade Unions and Business Unity South Africa told the government at a meeting on Monday that it must find ways to use the Unemployment Insurance Fund to finance temporary layoffs and other methods of supporting companies whose finances have been hit, representatives of both organizations said.

While South Africa has had only 62 confirmed cases of the virus, the number is expected to grow and the government has imposed travel bans, school closures and other restrictions to slow its spread. The rand and stock prices have plunged.

All employed South Africans and employers pay into the fund, and regulations would need to be altered to allow it to be used in the manner suggested, the organizations said. More meetings are planned soon and action is expected, they said.

To contact the reporter on this story: Antony Sguazzin in Johannesburg at asguazzin@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: John McCorry at jmccorry@bloomberg.net, Paul Richardson, Hilton Shone

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