The biggest risk to growth in 2017 lies in lower confidence. Achieving faster growth requires government to prioritise building confidence in households as well as foreign and local investors. This requires engagement with social partners, a focus on improving the ease of doing business to encourage investment and the development of Small Medium Enterprises as well as urgently addressing key structural reforms in the economy.
The National Treasury supports growth through the budget. The budget allocates resources according to the priorities and guidance of the National Development Plan.
In addition, the Minister of Finance and the National Treasury engage regularly with global and local investors to communicate Government’s fiscal and economic strategies and have also played an important role in Government engagements through the CEO initiative, to identify opportunities in labour intensive sectors such as agriculture and tourism to create jobs and growth.