RAYMOND PARSONS: Where are all the president’s councils?
The Treasury seems to have been left on its own to figure out how to tackle the economic earthquake
“If economists were laid end on end,” George Bernard Shaw once famously said, “they would not reach a conclusion.” Economists agree on many things, of course, but when their views clash, it attracts attention because economics, after all, revolves around the fundamental issues of people’s livelihoods and incomes. The fact that 100 economists recently asked parliament to roll back finance minister Tito Mboweni’s supplementary budget appears to lend credence to Shaw’s view.
But the dire socioeconomic effect of Covid-19, both globally and in SA, calls for tough decisions about lives and livelihoods, buoyed by empirical evidence and a unity of purpose. The fact that the economists have asked parliament not to merely adjust but to reject Mboweni’s supplementary budget must be taken seriously and answered...
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