Honourable Speaker & Deputy Speaker
Honourable Premier, Ms Sylvia Lucas
Members of the Executive Council
Honourable Members of the Provincial Legislature
Mayors And Councillors
Director - General, Heads of Departments & Municipal Managers
Distinguished Guests,
Comrades and Friends
Members of the Media
Ladies and gentlemen
Introduction
Honourable Speaker, the budget that I have the honour to table here today remains firmly focused on a longer term transformation challenge and it also responds to a new paradigm for governments in the world today.
While responding to the changing economic outlook, our primary goal remains the radical economic transformation, and the progressive building of a shared future in which we can take pride in the quality of our public services, the creation of jobs for our people and security in our communities.
I am tabling the provincial budget at the time when the country is dedicating this year to the life and times of Oliver Reginald Tambo. A renowned son of our country, Oliver Tambo would have turned 100 years old this year, had he lived.
He dedicated his adult life to a tireless pursuit of the liberation of our country and its people. He left a lasting legacy not only for his organisation, the ANC, but for all South Africans.
Oliver Tambo’s vision is embedded in the National Development Plan (NDP), which guides us in the building of a South Africa that is free from poverty, inequality and unemployment.
In the words of Oliver Tambo, “we have a vision of South Africa in which Black and White shall live and work together as equals in conditions of peace and prosperity.’’ Since our democracy, we have a lot to celebrate, for no one can deny the genuine progress that our country has made over these years.
We have sustained and deepened our democracy; we have created a more egalitarian social order by providing unprecedented access to education and training at all levels, the improvements to our healthcare system.
Our performance in housing construction and the modernisation of our physical infrastructure is a source of national pride. Our people have access to electricity, clean water and sanitation. There are improvements in access to basic household services which are tangible signs of progress in living standards and they broaden opportunities for economic participation.
Honourable Speaker, this budget is built on fiscal discipline and it lays a firm foundation for the future we all want in the Northern Cape. It is all about stability and confidence. It builds on the strength we have as a province to cushion the effects of the revenue shortfalls as result of global economic crisis.
Honourable Speaker, the challenges and the constraints of our present circumstances, confront all of us who share a stake in the South African economy- as government, as businesses, as workers, as local communities, as families, as citizens and taxpayers - we are in this together.
To overcome all these obstacles and achieve our ambitions of radical economic transformation, that is inclusive, we have to work together to build an economy in which business can grow and prosper and in which community organisations have a place alongside government in delivering public services.
We have entered a period of slower economic growth affecting governments and citizens everywhere. Investors are nervous; consumers are cautious and rightly so. They are concerned about their futures and now more than ever they are concerned about rising debt — not just their own but government's debt.
Macroeconomic Outlook
Honourable Speaker, according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), economic activity is expected to pick up especially in emerging market and developing economies in 2017 and 2018 after slow economic performance in 2016. There is however still a large amount of uncertainty around the policies in developed economies and its impact on the global economy.
World output is projected to grow by 3.4 per cent in 2017 and 3.6 per cent in 2018 – which is up from growth of 3.1 per cent in 2016. In 2017, it is projected that advanced economies will grow by 1.9 per cent and by 2.0 per cent in 2018, which is respectively 0.1 and 0.2 percentage points more than what was projected by the IMF in October 2016. Full speech [PDF]
