Godongwana’s mid-term budget 'conservative, realistic'
Economist Dawie Roodt has described the mid-term budget speech as both conservative and realistic.
"The minister made it very clear that he will exercise, as he calls it, tough love, and that the state-owned enterprises must stand on their own legs and they must make a plan themselves because the taxpayers simply cannot afford it."
Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana tabled his maiden mini-budget on Thursday.
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Godongwana painted a bleak picture of the country's debt, growing unemployment figures and energy crisis - among other things.
Roodt said he was expected to play it safe.
He added Godongwana had little room to manoeuvre as the future of our troubled state-owned enterprises weigh heavily on government.
"Inevitably, what is going to happen is that some of the state-owned enterprises will have to close down and the minister, I think, between the lines also indicated that some of these state-owned enterprises should, in fact, close down or should be sold."
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The DA feels the minister fell short of their expectations to implement measures to shore up the economy but the party welcomed Godongwana's commitment of no additional bailouts to state-owned enterprises.
This while the IFP said it's extremely concerned about the state of the fiscus, adding that the budget offered no concrete plans to rectify the situation.
