MAMOKETE LIJANE: We cannot ‘infrastructure’ our way out of our growth conundrum
Fiscal consolidation is essential for investment and long-term growth
In his last state of the nation address President Cyril Ramaphosa again emphasised the centrality of a “massive” infrastructure rollout plan to the government’s economic recovery vision. The plan extends widely into network infrastructure, human settlement, smart cities, water infrastructure, broadband and so on.
High interest rates, linked to weak government finances, pose the greatest risk to the president’s ambitions, in direct and indirect ways. If the costs of funding are not managed lower, the state could land its public-private partnership (PPP) projects, but persistent weakness in private sector fixed investment will undermine the capital expenditure story overall...
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