FINANCE Minister Malusi Gigaba is having a hard time in Parliament, balancing the country's finances taking into consideration the R51 billion budget deficit.
In his speech, Gigaga highlighted the fact that a fund with an allocation of R2.1 billion will be developed over the medium term, between the Departments of Small Businesses, Science and Technology, in order to remove the barriers to entry, which are faced by many of the South African youth in trying to start businesses.
"To resolve this, our competition authorities continue to do the necessary and important work of addressing barriers to entry and rooting out anti-competitive behaviour which slows economic growth and dynamism," Gigaba said.
In addressing what is regarded as a potion that will affect the poor drastically, Gigaba announced that Treasury would be rising the VAT rate from 14% to 15% as it had not been raised for several years.
He said, the new tax measure will add an additional R36 billion in the 2018/19 fiscal budget.
According to the minister, government plans on reducing the expenditure amounting to R85 billion, he also mentioned an allocation of R57 billion for fee-free higher education and training.
