DURBAN - SA Finance minister Tito Mboweni has asked South Africans to send him their ideas on how to grow the country's ailing economy.
Mboweni will deliver the 2020 national budget speech on February 26 and would like the public's views on the following question: What can government do to achieve faster and more equitable economic growth?
Answers can be sent via Twitter to @TreasuryRSA with the hashtag #TipsForMinFin and #Budget2019.
Responses can also be posted at the Treasury website:
"As usual the budget allocation always aims to strike a balance amongst competing national spending priorities. It is in this context that minister Mboweni invites South Africans to share their views about economic conditions and other issues they would like government to highlight in the budget," said Mboweni's office on Monday.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Monday lowered its growth forecasts for the South African economy in 2020 and 2021, citing structural constraints and deteriorating public finances.
The IMF now sees the economy growing at 0.8% this year, down from a previous forecast for 1.1% growth, and 1.0% in 2021, down from an earlier prediction for 1.4% growth.
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has tried to revive Africa’s most industrialised economy after a decade of slow growth, but he has found it hard to push through much-needed reforms and rein in rapidly rising debt levels.
In recent months, nationwide power cuts that have dented economic output and sapped investor confidence in the economy.