Finance Minister Tito Mboweni has again reiterated the need to establish a state bank.
Several parties including the EFF, Al Jamaar and trade federations have long been calling for the establishment of a state-owned bank.
Mboweni says this is not an ideological idea, but a necessity. Those who advocate for a state-owned bank say it will make it easier for the working class and the poor to access capital on easier terms.
The Finance Minister is in agreement.
“The state bank has to be created and in my view, the African Bank affords us a platform to support our people to get our economy to grow,” Mboweni says.
Mboweni also says there’s a need to consider a Basic Income Grant, given the growing unemployment rate and poverty.
The Finance Minister elaborates in the video below:
Cosatu and the SACP have been campaigning for it. While Mboweni is sympathetic, he simultaneously warned against rushing the issue.
“We need a full discussion on this and a full research whether we are in a position to afford it or not and the poverty that they find themselves in,” he says.
These debates come at a time when the country’s GDP contracted by 7% in 2020, the worst in 75 years. At the same time, unemployment and poverty have worsened in recent months.
