There was mixed reaction from political parties on Minister of Finance, Pravin Gordhan’s Medium Term budget policy statement.
Gordhan, who tabled the budget statement today, touched on a number of issues facing the country in his speech such as the strike actions. He also spoke about government’s infrastructure programme and a plan to fight corruption in the country.
Reacting to the speech, the African Christian Democratic Party (ACDP)’s Steve Swart, said he was impressed by the speech. “What was particularly impressive was that the budget deficit came in slightly lower that what was forecast in the beginning of the year and this is good news. We were expecting that in light of global economy crisis and the domestic economic crisis that the budget deficit will be higher. But it came at 4.8% which is to be welcomed because this has a positive impact on debt of government going forward. The Minister made it clear that our debt consolidation package is on course and that sends a positive message to investors and credit rating agencies.”
The Freedom Front Plus (FF+), leader, Pieter Mulder, said that the fact that deficit is up and growth is down shows that indicators are going in the wrong directions. He however praised the minister saying he tried by trying to stop the waste in government departments.
“What was particularly impressive was that the budget deficit came in slightly lower that what was forecast”
The Congress of the People (Cope)’s Nick Gordon also praised the minister speech. He says clear fiscal discipline which the minister touched on in his speech, will restore fiscal discipline and they are happy about that. “That will assist in restoring business confidence which is what we needed.”
The Democratic Alliance, Tim Harris, says they also welcome government plan on the “spending freeze” in government departments but they are disappointed that there was no mention in the speech of the youth wage subsidy, labour law reform which shows that the minister does not have total control of the budget.
Click below for video of the reactions.
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