Parliament, Wednesday 11 March 2020 – The National Assembly and the National Council of Provinces, at separate plenary sittings today, agreed to the 2020 Fiscal Framework and Revenue Proposals.
Minister of Finance Mr Tito Mboweni tabled the 2020 Budget, including the proposed Fiscal Framework and Revenue Proposals, the Division of Revenue Bill and the Appropriations Bill when he delivered the 2020 budget speech to Parliament on 26 February.
The Fiscal Framework and Revenue Proposals include estimates for the next three years on all revenue (budgetary and extra-budgetary specified separately) to be collected; all expenditure (budgetary and extra-budgetary specified separately); borrowing, interest and debt-servicing charges; and an indication of the contingency reserve to respond to emergencies or other unforeseen needs.
Parliament’s Standing Committee on Finance recommended approval of the Fiscal Framework and Revenue Proposals to the National Assembly and the Select Committee on Finance recommended approval to the National Council of Provinces.
Parliament’s agreement today to the Fiscal Framework and Revenue Proposals follows a number of meetings of the Standing and Select Committees on Finance and on Appropriations with Minister Mboweni, the Director General and senior officials of National Treasury and officials of the South African Revenue Service.
The Parliamentary Budget Office and the Financial and Fiscal Commission also briefed these committees and public hearings were held, at which a range of stakeholders made written and oral submissions. These stakeholders were the Congress of South African Trade Unions, the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa, the Rural Health Advocacy Project, the National Council Against Smoking, the Budget Justice Coalition, the Fiscal Cliff Study Group, the Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse, the South African Institute of Chartered Accountants and PricewaterhouseCoopers.
Stakeholders who made written submissions only included the African Climate Reality Project, the Vapour Products Association of South Africa, the South Africa Tobacco Transformation Alliance, the Black Tobacco Farmers Association, British American Tobacco South Africa, the Limpopo Tobacco Processors, Twisp and Mr Mali Buthelezi.
In their written reports on the 2020 Fiscal Framework and Revenue Proposals, tabled to the National Assembly and the National Council of Provinces, Parliament’s Select and Standing Committees on Finance also made a number of observations and recommendations.
One of these was that, given current challenging circumstances, Parliament as a whole needed to carry out its oversight role of the executive more effectively and efficiently.
“We have to ensure that wastage and corruption are significantly reduced and that there is far more value for money spent… Government alone cannot ensure the necessary economic growth. Parliament, the private sector, trade unions, other sections of civil society and the public all have a role to play. However, government has to lead in this regard,” the committees said in their reports, which the National Assembly and National Council of Provinces adopted today.
ISSUED BY THE PARLIAMENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF SOUTH AFRICA
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