Economic prosperity for any nation is not achieved on the basis of one policy focus and strategy. It is a result of a carefully chosen and managed set of development drivers and priorities in a complex system with a causal network of linkages that must work together to deliver the economic growth and prosperity we all desire. The state is just a complex system within another complex regional, continental and global system. The challenge is to manage this complexity in a balanced way. No government has managed this challenge optimally and on a sustainable basis in the context of a dynamic and changing environment. Governments that have managed to be sensitive to this complexity and responded with carefully weighted policy choices and strategies have been able to make progress on the developmental front. The budget is a mediated outcome that allocates resources to strategic choices that have been made. Statistician-general Pali Lehohla has expressed concern about the challenge of tran...

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