President Cyril Ramaphosa has assured South Africans that the country is not running out of money. Ramaphosa was speaking during his closing address on the last day of the ANC NEC ordinary meeting at Birchwood Hotel on Monday evening.
Ramaphosa says the NEC received a report from Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana who assured him that the country is not running out of money.
“The NEC received a report from our deployee, Godongwana on the fiscal situation and position of our country. The NEC was reassured that South Africa is not running out of money,” he said.
Ramaphosa said the fiscal pressured faced by South Africa are due to economic challenges brought on by slow economic and joblessness.
“Our fiscal challenges stem from slow jobless growth. Instilling discipline as an important measure is important for us to take decisive steps to grow the economy. Fiscal discipline is not the same as imposing austerity measures that will undermine our developmental agenda,” he said.
Ramaphosa’s utterances comes amid media reports indicating that the country is running out of money.
Last week, Business Tech reported that South Africa’s budget deficit had widened further in August and September compared to a year ago as government expenditure continued to grow faster than revenue. However, Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana said this does not mean the country has run out of many.
Ramaphosa said South Africans are struggling with high food and fuel prices adding that his government is engaging with the retail sector to find ways to mitigate this.
“The NEC has expressed concerns that, ordinary South Africans, however,continue to feel the impact of high food and fuel prices. Most recently, the competition commission found that retailers have not been passing on cost reductions through falling producer prices to consumers.
“The NEC urged government to engage the retail sector to work together in ensuring that our citizens and in particular the working people in our country, are cushioned for the continuing rise in prices,” he said.