Godongwana’s medium-term budget statement delayed by a week

Parliament has announced that Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana’s 2021 Medium-Term Budget Policy Statement (MTBPS) will be delayed by a week.

This comes after Treasury sent a request to National Assembly Speaker, Nosivie Mapisa-Nqakula, to postpone the MTBPS in effort to allow MPs breathing space after local government elections.

The municipal elections are set to take place next Monday, on 1 November.

The MTBPS will now be moved from 4 November to a week later, on 11 November.

“The new date for the tabling of the Medium-Term Budget Policy Statement is Thursday, 11 November. The speaker has accepted finance minister’s request for this amendment on the National Assembly programme,” Parliament spokesperson Moloto Mothapo said in a tweet.

Former finance Minister Tito Mboweni pulled the same move last year, asking Parliament for a week’s delay.

In the previous MTBPS, which took place in October 2020, Mboweni announced a number of expenditure cuts following the drastic effects of the Covid-19 pandemic continue across the South African economy.

The MTBPS is a government report providing information on the country’s economic context, fiscal objectives and spending priorities over a three-year period.

Meanwhile, Godongwana’s MTBPS is expected to outline fund allocations to the South African Special Risk Insurance Association (Sasria) of over R3.9 billion, amongst other matters, News24 previously reported.

READ MORE: Mbalula ‘determined’ to resolve e-tolls impasse before end of 2021

The state insurer has been working through claims by businesses following violent unrest and looting in July.

The minister is also expected to pronounce on the controversial e-tolls scheme on the Gauteng Freeway Improvement Project (GFIP), according to Transport Minister Fikile Mbalula.

“We are determined to bring this matter to finality before the end of the year. We expect that the minister of finance, when he delivers the Medium-Term Budget Policy Statement in November 2021, will pronounce on the e-tolls. By that time, we believe Cabinet would have finalised the matter,” Mbalula said earlier this month.