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We have challenges, but we will be fine: Gordhan

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Minister of Finance Pravin Gordhan says we have to be frank with our reality and although the economy is not performing at an optimum, it’s not all doom and gloom.

Speaking in Parliament, Cape Town during the delivery of his Budget Speech, the minister highlighted that it is important that we manage our finances in a prudent and sustainable way.

Gordhan emphasised that the Budget relies on institutions to ensure good governance and a public ethic that values honesty and fairness. In his frank assessment of the current economic woes he makes a plea to the nation saying, “If we act together, on these principles, as public representatives, civil servants, business people, youth, workers and citizens, we can overcome the challenges of tough economic times and difficult adjustments.”

As he tables the Budget Speech before Parliament Gordhan was cognisant of various facts which have hampered growth in the country and largely to that was the deterioration in the global economy, which in South Africa played a large part in weaker business confidence coincides with a severe drought, bringing with it rising prices and threats to water supply in many areas.

The Minister has proposed various measures to help overcome the tough times and those measures included reducing the budget deficit to 2.4% by 2018/19. And the main factors leading to this decline is the slowdown in revenue associated with slower economic growth over the past year.

Some of the other proposals Gordhan put before Parliament included tax increases amounting to R18 billion in 2016/17, and a further R15 billion a year in 2017/18 and 2018/19.

The Minister however was conscious in how this would affect the majority of the population saying, “We have also been mindful of the need to moderate the impact of tax increases on households and firms in the present economic context.”

Click below for the full speech:

– By Luvuyo Mdeni

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