Minister gets mixed reaction

AN ANALYST and business organisations found Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana’s mini-budget unsurprising and lacking in some areas.

Economist Dr Azar Jammine said: “It was very much what was expected – that Godongwana would maintain fiscal discipline. There is nothing in the policy to excite.”

He noted that Godongwana stuck to his guns on the 3% wage offer to unions.

Business Unity SA CEO Cas Coovadia, however, felt there were numerous positives from Godongwana’s speech.

“The allocation of R5.8 billion to Transnet is good, but we look forward to Transnet being serious about a genuine partnership with the private sector to make private involvement the norm instead of the exception.”

He said the increases in allocations to the police, NPA, SIU and FIC send out a clear message that there must be law and order, but this might be too late to avoid a grey-listing.

“We note the statement on Eskom. However, given the ongoing energy crisis, and the announcement of the president’s plan, we would have expected a clearer and more definitive approach.

“We welcome the announcement that the government will take over between a third and two-thirds of the debt and we welcome the conditions announced.”

He lamented the overall outlook as poor, with growth forecasts dropping to 1.9% for this year, from a projection of 2.1%.

Business Leadership SA spokesperson Tumelo Muteme welcomed Godongwana’s statement, but Agri SA said in a statement that they were disappointed that the statement failed to provide critical interventions to support hard-hit farmers.

SA Canegrowers CEO Thomas Funke welcomed the speech but was disappointed at the apparent failure to give any indication on the future of the health promotion levy.