by Stanley Karombo
JOHANNESBURG, July 13 (Xinhua) -- South African Finance Minister Malusi Gigaba unveiled an action plan on Thursday for reviving the economy with sound timelines and framework.
The plan outlines the Treasury's intention to reduce government guarantees for operational reasons and will provide the power utility Eskom with assistance.
In an attempt to pull out of the technical recession, the minister said, the plan intends to sell noncore government assets and partial privatization of government and state-owned enterprises (SOEs).
"Government has been deeply engaged with the issue of low economic growth and the recession, analyzing its impact on social welfare, and considering an appropriate response," Gigaba said at the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) in Sandton.
The country still faces challenges ahead and South Africans need to tighten their belts, Gigaba said. The World Bank expects the South African economy to grow by 0.6 percent this year, cutting its January projection by 0.5 percentage point.
The current economic growth, the minister said, was so low to address the triple challenges of high inequality, unemployment and poverty.
Gigaba said robust steps need to be taken to achieve radical economic transformation and create more jobs.
The SOEs targeted in the plan include the power utility Eskom, South Africa Airways and telecommunications firms.
Others areas to be addressed in the plan include Postbank's licensing enquiry, the Minerals and Petroleum Resources Development Act Amendment Bill, the broad-based socioeconomic empowerment charter for the South African mining industry and the Regulation of Land Holdings Bill.
The minister lauded South African president Jacob Zuma for his meeting with ministers in June where the latter urged for a coordinated response related to the government's nine-point plan.
"These interventions are the beginning of a response program that will be unpacked in the MTBPS (medium-term budget policy statement) and the 2018 budget," Gigaba said.
Gigaba also cautioned that South Africa faces tough budget decisions in 2017 as the country has entered its first technical recession since 2009.
The minister also noted the external pressures to the country's economic growth, including the marked increase in global policy uncertainty as well as rising rhetoric suggesting more inward-looking trade policies, he said.
