DA shadow minister of finance Dr Dion George has presented the party’s alternative budget for 2024.
This is ahead of the Budget speech to be presented by Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana on Wednesday, 21 February.
Godongwana’s budget speech comes amid a government-induced economic crisis of escalating debt, high record unemployment, an energy crisis, and catastrophic increases in the cost of living.
According to the DA, their alternative budget will be centred on the sustainable economic growth that generates jobs, revitalising the electricity sector to address the ongoing power outages, achieving fiscal stability through controlled government expenditure and debt Reduction amongst other things.
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Briefing the media on Monday, 19 February, George said their alternative proposal presents an adjusted expenditure framework that reconfigures government spending to redirect the fiscal trajectory from the current cliff towards a more sustainable future.
“The fiscal interventions we propose will enable our economy to grow and generate the jobs South Africans desperately need,” he said.
George criticised President Cyril Ramaphosa's administration for pushing millions of South Africans into poverty and desperation, making worse the cost of living crisis and worsening unemployment.
He said the financial hardship is made worse by global economic volatility and domestic policies that hinder economic participation while inflating the cost of living and causing households to go hungry.
“With the savings realised from the DA’s targeted spending and savings, as well as the implementation of the DA’s policy framework targeted at uplifting poorer households, the DA commits to protecting increases in social grants.
George said their alternative proposal further sets out several affordable proposals for tax relief.
“Given the current cost of living emergency, fuel taxes and levies must be reduced, and an expanded zero-rated VAT food basket must be considered now, and not deferred,” he said.
