<\/p>\n
SACP general secretary Solly Mapaila described the government’s austerity measures as an utterly inappropriate response to economic development problems.<\/p>\n
Speaking at the launch of the party\u2019s Red October campaign in Phuthaditjhaba on Sunday, Mapaila said the SACP had always warned against the vicious cycle that austerity, also implemented under the notion of fiscal consolidation, unleashes, especially in times of economic stagnation.<\/p>\n
\u201cAusterity should not be confused with trimming perks for senior officials, or ensuring greater value for money, by cutting rent-seeking or tackling corruption. Such measures should all be part of normal, prudent public finance management, which we support.\u201d<\/p>\n
He said the the party did not support austerity, which involves, prioritising, over all else, preordained \u201cfiscal anchors\u201d and ratios, by cutting government expenditure to the extent of cutting development and redistributive programmes, and withdrawing from real economic stimulus.<\/p>\n
\u201cExperience in various jurisdictions has shown that austerity often unleashes a vicious cycle. Austerity promotes stagnation. This, in turn, reduces revenue collection. It also leads to budget shortfalls.<\/p>\n
\u201cMore often than not, those promoting austerity are intransigent. They react to their austerity-generated revenue collection reduction and budget shortfall with more austerity. The whole scenario leads to prolonged stagnation, and in worse cases, a downward economic spiral,\u201d Mapaila said.<\/p>\n
Instead, there should be an effective economic and social development recovery strategy, particularly one geared towards inclusivity, large-scale employment creation, and radical poverty reduction, can furnish the fiscus with ample resources, Mapaila said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn the past, we called for decisive action to tackle irregular, fruitless and wasteful expenditure of public finances.\u201d<\/p>\n
The party said it was important to continually implement anti-poverty programmes, using the redistributive mechanism of the fiscus to provide a safety net for the poor.<\/p>\n
Mapiala called for: \u201cDirect expenditure towards and ensuring stimulus measures that contribute to increased investment in the economy.<\/p>\n
\u201cRadically transform the structure of our economy, to ensure a post-Covid pandemic economic reconstruction and development through re-industrialisation, among others, involving manufacturing expansion and diversification.\u201d<\/p>\n
THE MERCURY<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" SACP general secretary Solly Mapaila described the government’s austerity measures as an utterly inappropriate response to economic development problems. Speaking at the launch of the party\u2019s Red October campaign in Phuthaditjhaba on Sunday, Mapaila said the SACP had always warned against the vicious cycle that austerity, also implemented under the notion of fiscal consolidation, unleashes, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[13265,15350,7024,11516,1109,11517],"class_list":["post-198615","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-politics","tag-austerity","tag-consequence","tag-fiscal","tag-load","tag-sacp","tag-shedding"],"yoast_head":"\n