Madam Deputy Speaker, the ANC parliamentary caucus welcomes government's 2010 Medium-Term Budget Policy Statement. We further congratulate the SA Revenue Service on its exceptional performance in revenue collection, which will go a long way in ensuring that government realises its commitments to the people.
The statement has put a strong focus and emphasis on the robustness of the South African economy within the context of the prevailing financial market economic crisis. The South African economy is on a recovery path - doing much better than other developing and developed countries.
The statement has also put, at the centre of our recovery path, the countercyclical fiscal policy measures, that we have followed in the past years which, to a large extent, made it possible for the South African economy to sustain infrastructure spending on the social infrastructure security net.
We welcome various measures proposed in the statement to encourage participation of independent power producers in the energy sector to complement efforts by Eskom to meet the expanded increase in household and industrial power consumption. This will, among other things, enhance our economic growth, create jobs and enhance measures to fight and combat fraud and corruption. The measures are in line with the ANC's commitment to intensify the fight against the cancer of crime and corruption, particularly in the public sector. Thank you. [Time expired.] [Applause.]