The Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) says it anticipates more economic opportunities to be created to recover lost income amid the coronavirus pandemic.
The federation was outlining its expectations for Finance Minister, Tito Mboweni’s 2020/21 budget.
“Our number one priority is combatting the virus, so they need to roll out the vaccine much quicker. We really want to see the budget being linked to the president’s SONA, (State of the Nation Address) to provide economic and social relief for workers and companies under lockdown or distress, to stimulate economic growth to rolling out the infrastructure at our ports and rails and energy, which can spur economic growth,” says Cosatu’s Parliamentary Coordinator, Mathew Parks,.
“Government also needs to tackle the huge levels of money that we lose to corruption so we can spend government money more efficiently and reach the targets that we set,” he adds.
Minister Mboweni is expected to announce tax increases when he tables the budget on Wednesday.
Social spending
Analysts say Mboweni has no choice but to begin deep cuts to social spending in order to reign in the country’s spiralling public debt.
Director at Economist.co.za, Mike Schussler, says it is going to be a difficult budget for the country:
Economic growth
Chief Executive of Pan African Holdings, Dr Iraj Abedien, says the most important thing that Mboweni has to address is economic growth.
He says government needs to make sure that investment takes place and jobs are created:
