OUTSIDE VIEW
HILARY JOFFE: Set out the right bait and business will bite
Ramaphosa's stimulus pacakage is not a stimulus package, but could bring plenty of new money into the economy
In strict financial or fiscal terms, President Cyril Ramaphosa's economic stimulus package is not a stimulus package at all. There is no new public money going into the economy, and that's no bad thing given that government doesn't have the money to spend. The R400bn of public money that will go into the new SA Infrastructure Fund is simply the infrastructure spending - minus that of the state-owned companies - that government already had on the budget for the next three years. And the R50bn that's going into new priorities such as black commercial farmers, township and rural economies and bedding for public hospital patients is being shifted somehow from other budgets. In economic terms, however, this could prove to be a package that could bring plenty of new money into the economy and make a real difference. Ramaphosa will have to make it attractive and bankable for the private sector to invest. That means changing the way government works with the sector. And it means taking on t...
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