With debt at R4-trillion, there was no room to exceed the spending limits set out in his maiden medium-term budget policy statement , the minister warned.
Godongwana stressed that if the initial recovery was faster than expected, there was deep uncertainty that the current upswing would endure, with the doubt in large part a result of Eskom’s failure to keep the lights on. The strength of the recovery was also riding on the roll-out of Covid-19 vaccines, which he hoped would speed up.
He said growth was imperative and relied on speeding up economic reforms, with a focus on bettering productivity, competitiveness, investment and — crucially — employment in a pandemic-stricken climate with a record jobless rate of 34.4%. “The social relief of distress grant was extended to the end of March 2022. Between now and March, the government will decide what will happen, not the treasury,” Godongwana said.
Asked where he differed from his predecessor, Tito Mboweni, Godongwana replied: “I think we are on the same page. We are broadly similar from a fiscal framework point of view. The only difference I see is the shoes we wear but in terms of structural reforms, we are on the same page.” The minister said a special appropriations bill would be passed to pay for the deployment of more police during the
“All our efforts over the past 13 years have been to fix Eskom, instead of addressing security of supply by adding additional capacity to the grid,” Godongwana said.