Neelam Rahim | neelam@radioislam.co.za

2 min read | 7:50 pm CAT

Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana delivered his second Medium-term Budget Policy Statement in Parliament yesterday afternoon. He stated that South Africa had made some headway in addressing the government’s ballooning government debt, primarily because of stronger-than-expected tax income from companies. Godongwana called it a “positive” document, but billions have again been set aside to assist embattled state-owned enterprises, mostly Transnet, Denel and Sanral. A decision about Eskom’s R400 billion debt is still being negotiated.

Speaking to Radio Islam International, Efficient Group chief economist Dawie Roodt said international factors undoubtedly affect the South African economy not only bad but some good.

According to Roodt, the current economic woes experienced in South Africa are locally made. And much of that can be described as the wrong policies of the same government that delivered the medium-term budget policy.

However, he said a lot of good news was taken from the budget speech.

Roodts expressions have been quite positive listening to the Minister of Finance. He said it is a market-friendly budget, including some of Eskom’s debt that will be taken over.

The Minister also addressed the contentious issue of Gauteng’s etoll system and cleverly passed the ball to the Gauteng government, but this is probably the end of the etoll, as per Roodt.

Listen below to the interview with Mufti Moosagie and Dawie Roodt on Radio Islam’s podcast.