Time to restructure the state, not the economy –Sakeliga
24 June 2020
When budget deficits more than double to 16%, without government cutting expenditure somewhere, it is time to restructure the state, not the economy.
So says Piet le Roux, CEO of independent business group Sakeliga in reaction to the emergency budget presented in Parliament today by Minister Tito Mboweni.
“Contrary to President Cyril Ramaphosa’s insistence last week that Covid19 presents an opportunity to transform and restructure the economy, it necessitates the restructuring of the state. That is where his focus should be, but this emergency budget shows no evidence of such realisation.”
“In fact, the emergency budget doubles down on debt and wishful assumptions about future tax base recoveries. It projects almost four times as great a deficit for 2021 as Mr Gigaba did in 2018, and double what Mr Mboweni did in February – suggesting an accelerating fiscal deterioration even long after the presidency of Mr Zuma.”