PRETORIA – President Cyril Ramaphosa said on Friday that the government would establish an infrastructure fund and municipal infrastructure improvement package as part of measures to reignite growth, stimulate economic recovery and secure confidence in sectors affected by regulatory uncertainty and inconsistency.
This follows Cabinet’s deliberation on and approval of the proposed measures which encompass a number of related portfolios.
Ramaphosa said the stimulus package had five broad parts, mainly the implementation of growth enhancing economic reforms, reprioritisation of public spending to support job creation, the establishment of an infrastructure fund, addressing urgent and pressing matters in education and health and investing in municipal social infrastructure improvement.
He said the measures, both financial and non-financial, would be implemented immediately to firstly ignite economic activity and secondly restore investor confidence.
"We are decisively accelerating the implementation of key economic reforms. We have taken decisive steps to rebuild investor confidence, end corruption and state capture, restore good governance at state owned enterprises and strengthen critical public institutions," Ramaphosa said.
"The measures we are announcing give priority to those areas of economic activity that will have the greatest impact on youth, women and small businesses."
President Ramaphosa’s unveiling of the stimulus package comes amid a number of developments on the economic terrain, including the Jobs Summit and the International Investment Conference next month.