Medium Term Budget: Complete rethink needed
Sasfin Securities' economist, David Shapiro feels a complete rethink of the South African economy is needed to take the country forward.
It will be delivered by recently appointed Finance Minister, Tito Mboweni.
LISTEN: Nene resigns, Tito Mboweni appointed as new Finance Minister
Shapiro says the economy is not growing fast enough to prevent ordinary South Africans from becoming poorer."Even though the International Monetary Fund has downgraded the global economy, the world is going to grow at 3.7 percent. We are growing, according to IMF, at maybe half a percent - it might be one percent," he said.
NOW READ: Prepare to pay R17 a litre for petrol: Economist
"Regardless, that gives you the kind of gap in terms of our growth. Even growing at that kind of level is not strong enough to sustain an increasing population. We are basically getting poorer."Shapiro believes Mboweni knows what needs to be done.
"The problem is not Mboweni. I think the problem is the underlying economy, which has been pretty weak. Most of the numbers we have been getting recently, and that includes numbers from companies, point to very difficult situations," said Shapiro.
Let us do something unusual which will annoy the Establishment. If you were Minister of Finance, what would you announce on Wednesday next week. It is time for the Medium Term Budget Policy Statement (MTBPS). Over to you. Don’t tell the Establishment about this tweet!!
— Tito Mboweni (@tito_mboweni) October 19, 2018
Nene resigned in the wake of his testimony at the Commission of Inquiry Into State Capture.
Mboweni is a former Minister of Labour and has also served as Governor of the South African Reserve Bank.