Malusi Gigaba insists SA’s policies will stay
The finance minister tells investors at the Development Bank of SA downgrades will hurt but structural reform will help green shoots in the economy
The credit ratings downgrades will have serious consequences for ordinary South Africans but structural reform will help the green shoots of the economy, says Finance Minister Malusi Gigaba. Gigaba was speaking on Wednesday to investors at the Development Bank of Southern Africa in Midrand, where he gave assurances that SA’s policies would remain intact. The minister insisted his surprise appointment to the Treasury did not signal a policy shift for the fiscus. “We have to be disciplined in our message that, one, we take this downgrade seriously and, two, the downgrade is going to be significant on the economy and investors [and] on ordinary people,” Gigaba said. “I have given the guarantee that, on the level of government, we are completely committed to the previous policies and programmes,” he said. Price hikes and a rise in interest rates as a result of the downgrades would affect the poor and the middle class. The downgrades could also affect public-sector wage talks. “If inflat...
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