Minister Godongwana: Treasury straddling hiking taxes or borrowing money to grow SA
Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana has set a grim scene against which he is set to deliver the Medium-Term Budget Policy Statement (MTBPS) in two weeks’ time.
He said the National Treasury is facing difficult trade-offs of either hiking taxes or borrowing more money to fund the country.
Godongwana was speaking during the National Treasury’s presentation of its annual report to Parliament’s finance committee on Tuesday morning.
He said the difficult economic climate undermined growth and the ability to raise revenue.
The minister defended the government’s planned expenditure cuts ahead of the tabling of the MTBPS, saying the alternatives are less palatable.
“It’s difficult to raise taxes in year. The second issue is increasing the borrowing. As we will demonstrate, our borrowing costs and our borrowing levels are becoming high,” said Godongwana.
He mentioned that the National Treasury had given careful consideration to how to meet the country’s budget deficit.
“Our approach has been moderate of combining expenditure cuts, but bump up some borrowing in a sustainable way,” said Godongwana.
The minister promised that the budget cuts he will announce next month won’t exceed the collective underspending of government departments of R29 billion in the last financial year.
-EWN
In other news – Kelly Khumalo causes a scene on stage
Well-known South African singer, Kelly Khumalo reportedly caused a stir at a show over the past weekend. According to ZiMoja, the singer wasn’t pleased with the sound quality at the Lemo Festival, hence she interrupted her band and demanded that the technical crew fix the problem.
“She is talented that is one thing you can’t take from her. The crowd came to a standstill and sang along,” the source disclosed. Read More
