ANTHONY BUTLER: SOEs are like alcoholics who can’t settle for one free drink
Bailouts and transfers in the medium-term budget may just make things worse
03 November 2022 - 15:56
Reserve Bank governor Lesetja Kganyago can be a very funny man. A decade ago, as director-general of the National Treasury, he told parliament’s finance committee that he was fed up with answering for the sins of SAA: “They must answer for themselves.”
Sceptical about “tough love” conditions for bailouts, he said state-owned enterprises (SOEs) resemble heavy drinkers looking for a fix. Give them something today and they may go away for a while, but “I have been long enough in the Treasury to know that they will come again for more”...
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