Finance Minister, Pravin Gordhan, has promised to stay the course of sound fiscal management as he took over the reins of a portfolio he previously occupied for five years.
He addressed the media on Monday after being appointed over the weekend, just days after the sacking of Nhlanhla Nene and the appointment of David van Rooyen.
Van Rooyen will now take over Gordhan's role as the Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs.
In his speech Gordhan said government was acutely aware of the financial impact that Nene's sacking had on the economy.
"As President Zuma indicated when a decision triggers developments such as these, a democratic government has a duty to listen and respond appropriately. I am therefore, privileged to address you today," he said.
"Our humble appeal to the nation is to work with us as we continue to build a resilient economy and a better life for all South Africans in the context of a challenging global, emerging markets and domestic economic environment," he added.
"We understand that it is our duty to continuously earn the trust and confidence of the South African public, and we commit ourselves to doing just that."
Gordhan said in the coming months he will be focussed on "staying the course of sound fiscal management."
"Our expenditure ceiling is sacrosanct. We can have extra expenditure only if we raise extra revenue. We will unreservedly continue our fiscal consolidation process and we will stabilise our debt in the medium term. If needs be, we will accelerate this by either cutting spending or making selective changes to tax policy," he said.
"Similarly, any revenue raising opportunity will be considered very carefully to ensure that it does not damage growth or affect the poor negatively. I want to be very clear: we will not cut pro-poor programmes, growth inducing programmes and investment. Instead we will seek to increase investment in the 2017 Budget," Gordhan said.
The returning Minister of Finance also had some strong statements regarding troubled State Owned Companies like SA Airways.
He said work has begun to develop a uniform legislative framework to regulate State Owned Companies.
Gordhan said the necessity for wide-ranging reforms that will put them on a sustainable financial footing is now unavoidable, adding that good governance at State Owned Companies is non-negotiable.
"Working with the Reserve Bank, we are going to intensify and accelerate the pace of financial sector reforms, which will be underpinned by the Financial Sector Regulation Bill. A stable financial sector is central to oiling the real sector of the economy," he continued.
"As a caring government we fully appreciate our duty to protect all those invested in our economy. We will always act to protect the pensions invested in our bonds, equities and other forms of stocks. "We take account of the concerns of the rating agencies and investors and we shall endeavour to protect the investment grade rating of South Africa."
