What should have come down, went up - Sakeliga on 2019 budget speech
20 February 2019
“What we needed from the 2019 budget speech was a substantial decrease in expenditure. What we got was an increase in expenditure, tax, fuel levies and an exceptionally untimely carbon tax. It increases the strain on the economy and carries the South African fiscus further down an unsustainable path. And by in effect increasing income tax, it transfers the buying power workers in the real economy should have had to bureaucrats.”
Piet le Roux, CEO of Sakeliga, says that despite some signs that Minister of Finance Tito Mboweni wants to cut the state employee wage bill, and wants to resist attempts to take on more SOE debt, the fundamental fiscal trajectory remains deeply concerning.
“From the start of his term, and in the run-up to Minister Mboweni’s budget speech, we made it clear that the litmus test for this budget would be whether state expenditure is reigned in substantially. Despite some efforts by Minister Mboweni, we saw the exact opposite. Projected consolidated expenditure still increases by more than price inflation.”
ESKOM