Johannesburg – The Institute for Economic Justice (IEJ) has hit out at the government for not putting its money where its mouth is when it comes to infrastructure- led economic recovery.
The institute in its submission to the select and standing committees on finance on the 2021 budget, said while the government has talked a lot about infrastructure as an anchor to economic recovery, the budget presented by Finance Minister Tito Mboweni painted a very different picture.
“Public investment in infrastructure as a percentage of gross domestic product has declined to under 20% since 2016 and has declined by 7.2% from R815-billion in the 2020 budget to R791.1-billion over the medium-term expenditure framework,” said IEJ economist and researcher Busi Sibeko.
“In addition, only R18-billion has been allocated for infrastructure for 2021-2024, amounting to only three infrastructure projects that are expected to be financed in this period. In lieu of a lack of public spending in infrastructure, the government is relying on private capital to fill this gap. This fundamentally reneges on the government’s duty to provide accessible and affordable infrastructure to all.”
The reconstruction and recovery plan announced by President Cyril Ramaphosa in October centres on infrastructure as the key driving force to job creation and economic growth over the next five years.
Cosatu’s parliamentary coordinator, Matthew Parks, said the division of revenue bill and budget do not speak to the progressive commitments of the plan.
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