Urban legend that R500bn has disappeared from fiscus, Mboweni tells MPs

Cape Town - Finance Minister Tito Mboweni has defended the R70 billion loan from the International Monetary Fund.

Mboweni told MPs on Wednesday that the money from the IMF would help in the fight against Covid-19.

He said the government borrows money all the time and these loans would be paid back.

Mboweni said previous loans were repaid at the stipulated time.

He also denied that R500 billion has gone missing from the fiscus.

He described this as an urban legend.

“There is an urban legend which has emerged that the R500bn has disappeared. How can R500bn disappear,” he said.

He said there was also a feeding frenzy in the country that every contract and tender equalled corruption.

Most of the country’s opposition parties have rejected the government’s decision to loan R70bn from the IMF, with a number of bigger parties expressing fears that this money could be misappropriated.

The government had indicated a few months ago that it would go to international institutions to get cash for the projects it needed for the Covid-19 outbreak.

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