Now is the time for CR’s endgame! Statement by CDE on South Africa’s growth and fiscal crisis
- The medium-term budget policy statement tabled in Parliament on 30 October 2019 is a wake-up call. It shows unequivocally that the path South Africa is on is unsustainable.
- Finance Minister Tito Mboweni announced that forecasts of annual economic growth have been revised downwards to 0,5%, while revenue from tax collection is likely to be 4% lower than he expected just eight months ago.
- Government must act now. To do otherwise is malpractice and risks condemning the country to declining real per capita incomes and increasing unemployment for a very extended period. No government can survive that for long, so it is in all of our interests that, however hard the political challenges appear, government tackles them decisively.
- Given this, we absolutely have to see growth-accelerating reforms. Everybody knows this already; what has been lacking is the will to make the decisions that are needed. This will mean that vested interests will have to be confronted.
