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Cape Town - Finance Minister Trevor Manuel says there will be no seismic shifts in government economic policy.
Speaking ahead of tabling his medium-term budget policy statement in parliament, which reflected a continuation of the government's previous prudent approach to monetary and fiscal policy, Manuel dismissed suggestions that the ruling ANC was being shunted to the left by its labour and communist alliance partners.
"Policy in the ANC is not made on the hoof. It is not a case of 'when two or more are gathered in my name'," said Manuel, responding to questions about the current political upheaval in the ruling party, the vociferous demands from the South African Communist Party and labour federation Cosatu for radical restructuring of macro-economic policy.
Deflecting questions about whether there was political pressure on him to deviate from the current macro-economic path, he said that there would be ongoing debate and discussions.
But he stressed that his budgets had always emphasised the areas the new ANC leadership was focusing on: education, health, crime and social welfare.
"It is less about policy. It is about implementation," said Manuel.
The ANC and its alliance partners gathered last weekend to discuss economic policy and, while resolutions were silent on previous demands for government to scrap inflation targeting and spend budget surpluses, resolutions did make some specific calls like one for a basic income grant (BIG).
Manuel reiterated the official ANC line about how policy in the ANC was formulated through a series of policy gatherings and then adopted at a party conference once every five years.
Many of the proposals put on the table at the last conference in Polokwane, Manuel stressed, had not been adopted. BIG was one of these.
"This does not mean we can't discuss it. A summit is not empowered to take decisions. That is how policy making happens in the ANC. That is not to say we can't debate. That is not to say we can't tweak," said Manuel who stressed that issues like BIG with huge cost implications would not constitute a tweaking of existing policy.
- Fin24.com