Province has to do more with less

BALLOONING public debt and a second pandemic of poverty have put the province under pressure to do more with less, according to the chairperson of the legislature’s budget committee, Deidré Baartman.

She was commenting on a briefing to the committee from the Financial and Fiscal Commission (FFC) on the submissions for the 2021/22 division of revenue.

The FFC’s report said: “The real impacts of Covid-19 on the economy and food security are still emerging, but preliminary data from Stats SA shows that in the first six weeks of the lockdown the number of respondents who reported receiving no income tripled from 5.2% before the lockdown to 15.4% by the sixth week.

“Core inflation was at 3.9%. Core inflation includes essential items of food, non-alcoholic beverages, clothing and footwear, housing and utilities, health, public transport, communication and education, which are necessities for the poor,” said the report.

Baartman said: “The Western Cape has always had to deal with a lower proportion of revenue due to a flawed provincial equitable share formula, despite the movement of people to our province who seek the dignified service delivery on offer here.”

“With increasing job losses, people will become more reliant on already stretched government social services,” she said.

The FCC told the committee that despite having the lowest unemployment rate in the country, the province would need unprecedented fiscal and monetary policy interventions to boost the economy to its pre-Covid-19 growth trajectory. |