DURBAN - The Durban Chamber of Commerce and Industry (DCCI) President Musa Makhunga shared his views on the upcoming budget speech that will take place tomorrow.
Finance Minister Malusi Gigaba will be delivering the annual budget speech and all eyes will be on the Minister to find out what his financial plans are for 2018. The DCCI President said that he wants to see how the Minister of Finance will address the state purse and how he plans to grow revenue.
Makhunga said, "We are sitting on quite a huge deficit so we are looking at revenue growth initiatives and plans to grow our revenue".
According to Makhunga, Gigaba's priorities should be:
1. To indicate where the money for free tertiary education initiative will come from.
2. Managing the issue of taxes because the business community is worried about corporate taxes while the man on the street is worried about VAT.
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On the state of the rand and whether it will be affected by the budget speech, the DCCI President said "We think that what is going to be coming out of the budget speech is really going to be reaffirming the positive messages that have been coming through and the rand will continue on its growth trajectory".
According to Makhunga investors and decision-makers will be looking at what will be coming out of the budget speech and if it is positive we can expect foreign investments as well as local investments.
Makhunga said that a positive budget speech would lead to growth in the Durban manufacturing sector in terms of job creation as well as in the growth of other Durban economic development points like the Dube Trade Port and the Durban Harbour.
The DCCI President also spoke about the Durban economy in terms of the budget speech, Makhunga said that the Durban economy is tied to the national economy.
He added that Durban will benefit if there is more spending on infrastructure development. The DCCI president explained that if there is increased infrastructure development then there will be more employment and the economy will grow faster than it has been in a long while. On the topic of State-Owned Enterprises, Makhunga said that Gigaba will be looking at how the SOE's can be streamlined and rapid changes within those entities.
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WATCH:
DCCI President Musa Makhunga talking about the budget speech
- BUSINESS REPORT ONLINE