Nelson Mandela Bay Business Chamber commends Finance Minister

01 Feb 2016 | Admin Author

The Nelson Mandela Bay Business Chamber has commended Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan on his unequivocal statements against wasteful expenditure, with a focus on strengthening service delivery and the review of systems of procurement.

Gordhan tabled his medium term budget policy statement in parliament on Thursday.

Commenting, Nelson Mandela Bay Business Chamber CEO, Kevin Hustler, said a modest growth rate of 2.1% in the South African economy this year, predicted to rise to 3.5% by 2016 is a far cry from the threefold growth needed to create sufficient job opportunities.

He says the Chamber is seeking urgent and effective engagement between government and business to improve investor confidence in the country's dominant and growth sectors, and in the country itself.

Hustler says they also support the National Treasury in its commitment to the close monitoring of and engagement with those municipalities that fail to live up to the standards of public service established in the Constitution.

He says Gordhan should keep a watchful eye on the Nelson Mandela Bay Metro in this regard, as well as on the progress of interventions currently undertaken.

Finance Minister, Pravin Gordhan says an additional R2.2 billion will be set aside to administer life saving drugs to people with HIV and dispersing of social grants over the next three years.

This would see spending on health and social protection reach R328.4 billion by 2017 - an increase of 7.3 percent.

He told MP's that the national health grant will be cut back, because of slow spending patterns, but other programmes will see funding increases.

He says more money will be spent on social grants as a result of a rise in beneficiaries.

National Treasury expects to have a "clear picture" of how many South Africans are legitimately receiving grants by next year's Budget.

Meanwhile, Gordhan says the Education Department will have to curb its spending on school infrastructure to keep up with additional wage pressures.

He says a new grant would be released to provinces to fund an occupation-specific dispensation for "certain categories" of therapists in the education sector over the next two years.

He told MP's that education would continue to receive the biggest slice of the budget pie over the next three years, and beyond.

The budget for basic and higher education will grow at an average rate of seven percent over the next three years, reaching R286.5 billion by 2017.