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Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan seems unfazed by criminal charges of fraud hanging over his head as he continues with his work to save the country’s ailing economy.
Speaking on the tumbling of the rand following decision by the National Prosecuting Authority to summons him to appear in court on November 2, Gordhan said all over the world political or economic events impacted on market sentiments.
He addressed journalists at the Bhisho state house after he met with Premier Phumulo Masualle and his cabinet.
“And what you saw the rand doing on ... I think it was Tuesday ... is what you must expect to actually happen in this environment. So I think what is very important is to appreciate the relationship between economic and political events on the one hand and market sentiments on the other hand.
“All of us carry a huge responsibility, whether we are in the public or private sector, to ensure that we conduct ourselves in a way which we try to maintain optimism in our economy and in our country. And that is what we are trying to do as the national treasury,” Gordhan said.
The minister would not comment on the offer by NPA’s head Shaun Abrahams to review the charges against him.
“On the NPA question ... that matter I have referred to my lawyers, so they will deal with that,” Gordhan said.
He said the purpose of his visit to the Eastern Cape together with his deputy Mcebisi Jonas was part of the preparations for the medium-term budget policy statement. He planned to visit other provinces in the course of the next 10 days.
“When the extended cabinet met with ministers, deputy ministers, premiers and MECs for finance a few weeks ago there was a decision that we would have more consultations with provinces on provincial expenditure and some of the challenges we face in the economy ... what it means for the amount of money government has available to it to spend and how do we divide that money between national, provincial and local government,” he said.
Gordhan said they wanted to find ways to work with provinces to contain and cut expenditure while at the same time helping provinces to understand that they could collect more revenue in order to support the amount of money the province would have to spend.
He expressed concern about the country’s economy.
“Clearly we are not at a good space at the moment as an economy because we are growing at less than 1% of [gross domestic product]. And the lower the growth is, the lower the revenue that is collected. The lower the revenue that is collected, the lower the amount of money is available for spending by the government, whether it’s by provincial or national government as well as local government,” Gordhan said.
