Cape Town - There are great expectations that Finance Minister Tito Mboweni’s third budget of the year will give more meaning to the economic recovery plan that President Cyril Ramaphosa announced two weeks ago.
Business Leadership South Africa (BLSA) chief executive Busisiwe Mavuso said: “The Medium-Term Budget Policy Statement (MTBPS) has the potential to support a recovery in business sentiment, leading to a recovery in growth and employment.
“However, this is not going to happen without the private sector making a concerted effort to support the state. Business makes a major contribution through the tax revenue it generates, both directly and through the employment it creates,” said Mavuso.
Anchor Capital investment analyst Casey Delport said: “What we ideally would like to see come out from the policy document includes clean audits as a requirement for special funding. This would mean additional Covid-19 funds only coming off the back of clean audits.
“We’d also like a clearer idea as to the fate of SAA. This will set the tone for other SOEs in the sense of whether government support still exists and if the government will still spend more taxpayer money on failing SOEs,” said Delport.
Meanwhile, the DA and the ANC in the province agreed that the MTBPS needed to support small businesses as the engine of economic growth.
Nomi Nkondlo, ANC provincial spokesperson on finance and economic opportunities, said she wanted to see a deliberate, dedicated strategy to serve and support emerging and especially black business in real terms.
“The reality is this is the time to boost local and domestic capability,” said Nkondlo.
DA provincial spokesperson Finance, Economic Development Deidré Baartman said: “Ahead of the MTBPS, it is important that Mboweni brings clarity to how the government is planning on supporting small and informal businesses.”
“SMME’s and informal business are vital to the strengthening of the economy and are the livelihoods of thousands in the province,” said Baartman.
Ahead of the MTBPS the Budget Justice Coalition tabled Imali Yesizwe – an alternative human-rights based budget. According to the document, key demands include: “The abandonment of austerity budgeting. This means moving away from an oversimplified and dangerously narrow focus on debt reduction through billions of Rand in spending cuts and tax increases, which are damaging for the economy and people’s rights.”
Cape Argus