DA says Gordhan’s ‘in a tight spot with very little fiscal space’

The Democratic Alliance (DA) appeared not to be sold on the view that Minister of Finance Pravin Gordhan has a “free hand” to do what he likes in this week’s Budget Speech given his “back peddling on retirement reform”.

The party’s shadow finance minister‚ David Maynier‚ will on Monday lay out the “five challenges facing the minister‚ ahead of the budget” on Wednesday.

They are “dealing with high levels of unemployment‚ avoiding a sovereign ratings downgrade‚ providing relief to poor households‚ dealing with the student fees crisis and providing drought relief”.

Maynier said that Gordhan “is in a tight spot with very little fiscal space‚ and even less political space‚ available to respond to the economic crisis and the risk of a sovereign ratings downgrade in South Africa”.

He also said that he doubted Gordhan had a “free hand to do what he likes seems exaggerated‚ especially given the back peddling on retirement reform‚ relating to the Taxation Laws Amendment Act (No 25 of 2015)‚ following political pressure from the Congress of South African Trade Unions”.