Given the current economic crisis and the consequent uncertainty, drawing up a medium-term budget for the next five years is simply unrealistic. Against the backdrop of the recession in which the country currently finds itself and other unpredictable factors, like the pandemic, any attempt to budget for the next five years is, in the FF Plus’s opinion, nonsensical.
The FF Plus is concerned about the higher taxes that may possibly be implemented next year in an attempt to increase state revenue. It will, however, have the opposite effect and hamper economic growth instead.
The FF Plus still hopes that the Minister of Finance (Tito Mboweni) will announce real structural reforms, that feasible plans as regards Eskom will be announced, that measures will be implemented to reduce government debt and state expenditure, that policy certainty will be addressed and that plans for individual and company tax relief measures will be announced as more disposable income is needed to turn the economy around. The private sector must be enabled to invest in the economy and create more jobs.
Policy certainty is important for creating investor confidence, which in turn, facilities job creation and economic growth and the government’s excessive wage bill must be urgently addressed. Year in and year out, the government makes promises about reducing the state’s wage bill, but these promises simple never realise.
The FF Plus does not want to see that any more money is allocated to failed state-owned enterprises, like the SAA. The party is, however, not holding out hope for any real changes as the Minister will most probably just rehash old plans that offer no hope for economic recovery.
The ANC government cannot allow itself to be held hostage by its own alliance partners any longer, particularly not the trade unions that are refusing any budget cuts to the government’s wage bill. The economy has reached a point where the government basically has no other choice but to implement such budget cuts.
Read the original article in Afrikaans by Wouter Wessels on FF Plus
South Africa Today – South Africa News
