South Africa must act now to minimize the impact of the global financial crisis on the poor, but still has to spend wisely, South African President Jacob Zuma said yesterday in his first state-of-the-nation address.
Zuma is under increasing pressure from union allies who demand more spending, but is also wary of scaring off investors as Africa’s biggest economy suffers its first recession in 17 years.
“We take as our starting point the framework for South Africa’s response to the international economic crisis, concluded by government, labor and business,” Zuma said.
“We must act now to minimize the impact of this downturn on those most vulnerable,” he said in a speech to parliament that lasted more than one hour.
Demand for South Africa’s minerals and manufactured goods has suffered from the global downturn, making it harder for Zuma to satisfy the demands of the unions who helped his rise to power in April elections.
Eurasia Group analyst Mike Davies said Zuma’s speech could have done more to address the biggest problems.
“I think it actually misses the opportunity to provide some clarity on setting targets, setting out an agenda,” he said.
“From investors’ point of view, it mentions the planning commission and it mentions the context of the global economic picture, but it doesn’t give much more on how they are going to look to focus on job losses and how they are going to continue with infrastructure spend,” Davies said.
Tempering expectations, Zuma made clear there were limits to what the government could do.
“Since the implementation of our program will take place in the face of the economic downturn, we will have to act prudently — no wastage, no rollovers of funds — every cent must be spent wisely and fruitfully,” Zuma said.
“The economic downturn will affect the pace at which our country is able to address the social and economic challenges it faces. But it will not alter the direction of our development,” he said.
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