Johannesburg - Gauteng Finance MEC Nomantu Nkomo-Ralehoko on Thursday announced that the province’s gross domestic product (GDP) shrunk by almost R81 billion from R1.1 trillion in 2019 to R1 trillion last year.
Nkomo-Ralehoko was delivering the Gauteng Budget at the provincial legislature.
”Gauteng as the economic hub has seen its GDP by region (GDP-R) shrinking by about R80.9bn from R1.1 trillion in 2019 to R1 trillion in 2020. Just too many people have lost their jobs, businesses, especially small, medium and micro enterprises have gone under and unemployment is ravaging all communities,” she said.
According to Nkomo-Ralehoko, the provincial government was driven by the spirit of resilience and hope during engagements in preparation of the 2021/22 Budget presented on Thursday.
She said the Gauteng Covid-19 response plan focusing on four priorities including defeating the pandemic, reigniting the province’s economy, recalibrating social policy and improving governance.
“We are still riding this crest wave of the Covid-19 storm and hard times still lie ahead,” Nkomo-Ralehoko warned.
She said the fight against Covid-9 would be helped by more scientific knowledge, lived experience, and would be data driven as well as evidence-based and multilayered interventions.
”We have also started the roll out of the vaccination programme, which adds to our optimism about a clear path towards overcoming this pandemic,” said Nkomo-Ralehoko.
She promised that the provincial government would not relent to the pain, misery and calamity visited upon Gauteng by the socio-economic situation precipitated by Covid-19, nor mask the incompetence, corruption or greed.
“We believe that the lessons learnt during the pandemic will inform the delivery of faster, more efficient and effective services. This is crucial taking into consideration the diminished provincial fiscal envelope coupled with a rise in the need for services by communities,” Nkomo-Ralehoko explained.
She said expenditure on Covid-19 accelerated the fiscal deterioration that was already under way in South Africa.
Nkomo-Ralehoko said a total of R5.9bn in new money has been allocated and the bulk of it would be focusing on defeating the Covid-19 pandemic.
The Gauteng Department of Health will be receiving R2.8bn while another R624 million will be used to boost the existing baseline for medicine.
”Consideration has also been given to the vaccine roll-out, which will be resourced through an injection of nearly R565m in conditional grant funding,” she said.
DA MPL Makashule Gana said the country was experiencing an economic slide and that GDP figures released by Statistics SA this week reveal that the economy was in the same level as in 2012.
He said the Gauteng population was growing faster than the economy.
”It’s business as usual in this province, people continue to steal and there are no consequences,” Gana said.