The government and ANC ideology are a perpetual constraint on business. Take mining for example, the flywheel of this economy. Electricity is the number one issue. The Mining Charter, transport and exploration are second-order issues. Instead of acting, we score more own goals.
Against this backdrop, this felt like a no-nonsense sort of budget. There were no grand analogies with hardy, drought-resistant aloes or harking back to Trevor Manuel’s plums.
There was also no mention of Eskom’s debt. But in the main, a budget that delivers reduced bond issuance, some small tax relief as opposed to the feared tax increases, and offers some more detail on public-private partnerships and broader reorientation of government spending to more productive areas with higher fiscal multipliers, should be welcomed.
Michael Avery speaks to Annabel Bishop, Investec chief economist; Peter Attard Montalto, head of capital markets research at Intellidex; and Keith Engel, CEO of the SA Institute of Tax Professionals about the good, the bad and the ugly of the 2021 budget.
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