Cosatu: Tito Mboweni’s ‘mild’ medium-term budget lacks details
The union federation also rejected what it described as provocation by the finance minister, as it defends the public-wage bill
Union federation Cosatu has described finance minister Tito Mboweni’s maiden medium-term budget policy statement (MTBPS) as “mild”, complaining that it does address the extent of the economic crisis in the country. The federation said in a statement on Wednesday that it expected Mboweni to articulate further details about the recently announced stimulus package. The lack of detail about how the government intends to implement the jobs summit framework agreement also fell short of Cosatu’s expectations. It also rejected what it described as provocation by Mboweni, as it defends the public-wage bill. Mboweni announced that the Treasury would not be footing the bill for the three-year wage agreement that increased public-sector wages by 7.5% in 2018, and 7% for 2019 and 2020. He said national and provincial departments would have to “absorb these costs within their compensation baselines”. In his medium-term budget speech, the minister urged that the country would need to reduce “consi...
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