Cape Town - The mini budget places the National Treasury and Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan firmly behind Trevor Manuel's national development plan (NDP).
Improving and strengthening government performance and promoting an enabling environment for investment and enterprise development according to the NDP is important, according to the medium-term budget.
"There is still considerable scope for improving programme implementation and the pace of reform in changing SA’s developmental landcape. There is also much to gain from more effective partnerships between government, business, labour and civil society."
Gordhan lists the following developments which will support the transition to more rapid growth:
• Additional electricity supply, with Eskom’s Medupi plant set to come on line in late 2014.
• Increased investment in economic infrastructure, including rail, water, roads, ports and broadband communication.
• Clear policy frameworks for new gas and oil exploration, improving SA’s ability to meet future energy requirements.
• Business support programmes and special economic zones that encourage indrustrialisation and improve local competitiveness.
• Improved urban planning and more efficient public transport.
• Collaboration between public and private sector agendas in agricultural development, and support for emerging farmers.
Steps to promote greater state efficiency include improvements to policy formulation, procurement and management systems as well as developing mechanisms for sharing skilled personnel in critical delivery areas and minimising waste.
The mini budget states further that many of these improvements do not require additional budget allocations, and will enable government to provide services that can be a catalyst for growth.
The Presidential Infrastructure Coordinating Commission has been established to improve planning and decision-making to speed up delivery of infrastructure projects.
- Fin24