Finance Minister Tito Mboweni has raised concerns over the lack of policy implementation by the government. He says this is a major constraint to the country’s growth prospects.
Mboweni is due to present the final draft of his economic strategy paper when he tables the Medium Term Budget Policy Statement.
Mboweni convened his third colloquium on the state of the South African Economy to finalise the recently released document. The colloquium has brought together government, business, and academia to discuss ways of growing the economy.
The paper entitled – ‘Economic Transformation, Inclusive Growth and Competitiveness: Towards an Economic Strategy for South Africa’, was released in August for public comment. According to Mboweni, Treasury received around 740 comments on the paper. He further explained that the document paper was presented before the ANC NEC Lekgotla and a Cabinet Lekgotla for comment.
“One of the things I have learned over the years is that you need political buy-in. If you think you can just parachute policy from somewhere without political buy-in, then you are wasting your time, which most think tanks do not understand because at the end of the day, policy is politics.”
However, the final draft will only consider comments that are consistent with government departments’ policy framework.
Mboweni says implementing at least 30% of the policy that is needed for growth would make a positive difference in the economy.
“One of the biggest constraints to economic growth in South Africa is lack of implementation about things that were decided upon. If we at least implement 30% of the things we said we would implement then we would be making great progress.”
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