Some of the measures from government to rein spending include:
- A freeze on budgets of non-essential goods and services at current levels;
- Withdrawing of funding for posts that have been vacant in the civil service for some time; and
- Reducing the rate of growth of transfers to public entities, particularly those with cash reserves.
Across
national departments planned expenditure on travel and subsistence,
conference venues and catering has been cut, Nene said.
Advertising
and communications budgets have also been reduced and consultant
services been capped. Altogether these steps will contribute savings of
about R1.3bn over the next two years.
Nene: We are also looking at the broader financial health of
Eskom.
22 Oct 2014
Nene: It is time we accept that we need to move towards a cost
reflective tariff from Eskom.
22 Oct 2014
Nene: A change in tax policy is not taken lightly, but there
will be a number of areas to look at to enhance revenue.
22 Oct 2014
Nene: If we do not reduce our spending and enhance revenue
collection you cannot reduce deficit.
22 Oct 2014
Nene: Small business development interventions focused on
growing this sector - you have an accommodating environment to allow the small
business sector to do more.
22 Oct 2014
Nene: The NDP has now been translated into the mini budget and all
government departments have aligned their budgets to the NDP and they will be
measured accordingly.
22 Oct 2014
Nene: Private sector must also lead in some areas, while
government continues to protect the poor and those cuts are not touched.
22 Oct 2014
Nene: SA economy contracted at beginning of the year due to
long protracted mining strike and other administrative challenges.
22 Oct 2014
Finance Minister Nhlanhla Nene now live on eNCA: SA had to
look at what the reality is regarding economic growth. There is a lot of
vulnerability for SA as a small economy.
22 Oct 2014
#NhlanhlaNene's budget speech was straight forward. Impressive. Hopefully the poor will not remain poorer.
Economist
Iraj Abedian: We have to address accountability of government.
22 Oct 2014
Kasongo: Increasing
tax is not an option in my view to look for more revenue. And if we increase
VAT that is maybe not the best idea either. Also, taxing the rich is that going
to generate the money we need? We do not want to increase our taxes so much
that we head into a recession.
22 Oct 2014
Abedian: Jobs are not
created in a vacuum – it only comes about if there is an enterprise. How do we
create a million enterprises in various sectors – even if each employ 2 people
that would mean 2 million more employed people. But if government wants to
create jobs they must make it easier for business.
Economist
Iraj Abedian: We talk about unemployment, but a lot of the unemployed are also
unemployable – how do we explain the situation with massive unemployment and
look at all the job opportunities advertised each week – that tells me our
education system is out of sync.
22 Oct 2014
Kasongo: We must make sure we have quality education. Do we have the willingness?
Are we teaching our students the willingness to be in the labour market.
22 Oct 2014
Economist
Atoko Kasongo of UWC: We have a very high unemployment, therefore, to create
more jobs we need more investors, but for that we need to stabilise the wage
bill.
22 Oct 2014
Nhlanhla
Khubisa, Secretary General of the National Freedom Party: Job creation
must be an issue. Ensure that we encourage business to invest especially in
rural areas. That is still lacking.
22 Oct 2014
Prof Jannie Rossouw
(economist)
Head of School: School of Economic
and Business Sciences, Wits University:
I have noticed that the budget
for civil service remuneration has been adjusted, but not sufficiently to allow
for the employment numbers in the civil service to grow at the same rate (3.1
per cent per annum) as since 2008. Going forward to 2017/18, the budgeted
figures give the impression that employment growth in the civil service will be
curtailed, which is to be welcomed. These figures also show that
government is clearly not agreeing to trade unions’ demands for an increase of
15% in civil service remuneration. This is also to be welcomed,
as South Africa cannot afford increases of that size in its civil service
remuneration account. The budgeted increases in
remuneration in the period to 2017/18 gives a clear impression of tax
increases, as these growth rates (9.7% in 2015/16; 10% in 2016/17 and 8,4% in
2017/18) can clearly not be achieved only from inflationary increases and
economic growth.
22 Oct 2014
Khubisa: Nothing has
been done to transform the mining industry. There is no political will.
22 Oct 2014
Khubisa: Something
tangible must be done to ensure the right people must be employed to do the
jobs, even in rural areas.
22 Oct 2014
Nhlanhla
Khubisa is the Secretary General of the National Freedom Party: Corrupt officials
must be arrested and not just migrated to other departments.
22 Oct 2014
Creamer:
The state’s role is to drive
infrastructure programmes and expand access to services so as to open up new
economic opportunities and change the economy’s inherited racialised patterns.
The private sector’s role, both big business and small, is to thrive in
the space created as the economy’s opportunities expand, to deploy new know-how
and technologies and to operate efficiently and competitively in such a way as
to benefit consumers, employees and, ultimately, the fiscus.
22 Oct 2014
Kenneth Creamer, Economist at Wits University: A central problem that needs
be overcome is that government’s fiscal stimulus and infrastructure-led
programme has failed sufficiently to stimulate, or crowd-in, private sector
investment in the manner envisaged when the policies were first implemented.
State-led economic transformation does not imply that the state
can go it alone in driving development. Rather, successful state-led
investment must serve as a catalyst for increased levels of private sector
investment.
22 Oct 2014
Economist
Atoko Kasongo: SA pumps money into state owned entities but we do now see what
happens to it.
22 Oct 2014
Economist
Iraj Abedian: The NDP is not yet nationally supported. We need to work on
investor confidence. Investors are taking the same type of thing into account.
The past 6 years the confidence in the investor community has pretty much
dwindled. They want to see if the government can deliver on what it promised.
22 Oct 2014
The SA economy has shrunk, and will raise taxes which were down to 10 billion n we still voted #ANC, really? #MidTermBudget
Buthelezi: There is
more than enough money when you count in the money stolen, misspent etc. How
can you be hopefull when so much money is wasted.
22 Oct 2014
Buthelezi: Even our own people won’t
invest in SA under these conditions. They will take their money elsewhere.
22 Oct 2014
Buthelezi: I have been in parliament since 1994. Investors want to be sure their
investments are safe. How can they when the unions dictate in a Tower of
Babylon type of situation.
22 Oct 2014
Mangosuthu
Buthelezi IFP: I find it worrying that countries like Mozambique are doing
better, but SA is not.
22 Oct 2014
Economist
Iraj Abedian: The issue is not privatisation or nationalisation – the national
grid, which at the moment is controlled by Eskom, is a national entity – but
one could privatise energy supply by creating a market to provide energy
through the national grid. Transnet has a monopoly on rail and ports – we can
keep them and bring some privatisation. Look at what is the best
framework in each case.
22 Oct 2014
Deloitte macro economist Kay Walsh was impressed with Finance Minister
Nhlanhla Nene's maiden mini budget speech, because she said Treasury was at last facing
up to the realities of poor economic growth. Watch her full video interview shortly.
22 Oct 2014
Shivambu: Transnet and Acsa are not in the red. State owned enterprises
should be utilised for development on the ground and not just enrichment of
those in control.
Shivambu: Nene says they will continue privatisation programme to balance debt – but
the reality is that the poor will suffer because jobs will be the first
casualty when there are privatisations.
22 Oct 2014
Shivambu: ANC continues to be stubborn on the wrong plan.