Hon Speaker and Deputy President, the ACDP is on record for commending the Minister of Finance on his prudent Budget, given the very difficult global and domestic economic environments. The Budget was generally well received, with the World Bank's country director for South Africa lauding the government for providing fiscal policy certainty.
Today, we are dealing with the Appropriation Bill but it is important to note, as the Minister pointed out earlier, that the economic situation has changed dramatically since the tabling of the Budget earlier this year, with the outlook for economic growth extremely precarious given weak global demand, long-term structural constraints and the shorter-term domestic issues. These issues are clearly undermining both domestic and foreign investor confidence which obviously impacts on economic growth, which then impacts on revenue collection and the amount of money that we can spend, which we are today appropriating.
Let us bear in mind what the Governor of the Reserve Bank, Gill Marcus, said when she delivered a strong plea for decisive leadership to tackle the country's domestic challenges. Yes, she emphasised the global challenges as well, but she indicated that our domestic challenges are of crisis proportions. We, as the ACDP, support the interventions that have been proposed. Deputy President, we support your interventions in the mining sector and we trust that they will go a long way to resolve the instability in the mining sector, which obviously is impacting negatively on our economic growth.
We know that the Budget deficit widened and this was expected though regrettable. We, in the finance committee, are on record in expressing concerns about increasing government debt levels. But, of course, this must be seen in the global context and the context of our domestic challenges. The size of the Budget deficit - this is crucial when we consider the Appropriation Bill today - results in debt service costs rising faster than any other category of spending over the medium term. This, of course, crowds out spending on developmental priorities. That is why it is crucial to interrogate today how we spend the money in the Appropriation Bill.
As the ACDP, we understand the need to stimulate economic growth in the short term to create more sustainable jobs and to provide that income revenue. It is in our view imperative that, if government wants real economic growth, it should create the environment to make South Africa more competitive, efficient and productive given the global challenges and competitiveness that is required. Thus, we welcome the shift in spending from consumption to the productive side of the economy with massive infrastructure development programme.
Lastly, on the issue of the alignment of the Budget and the Appropriation Bill with the National Development Plan, NDP, this we clearly support. We believe and should be mindful of what the Minister in the Presidency: National Planning Commission, Trevor Manuel, said last week. He said that history will judge government leaders and us, as Members of Parliament, harshly if we fail to implement the National Development Plan. Of course, he is correct. This followed a wave of criticism of the NDP mainly from alliance partners. It is crucial that we have policy certainty. This is what investors seek and this is what we, as the ACDP, support.
The ACDP will support this Bill. I thank you. [Applause.]