South Africa declares drought a national disaster

The South African government has declared a national state of disaster to deal with the country's drought and water crisis, BusinessTech reports. The declaration covers a period of three months. The reclassification of drought as a national disaster designates the primary responsibility for the coordination and management of the disaster to the national executive. U.S.-based Moody's Investors Service Inc. said that the government would need to spend up to $1 billion over the next five years on water and sanitation infrastructure to deal with the crisis.

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