Sovereign wealth fund & state bank coming, Ramaphosa reveals in Sona

President Cyril Ramaphosa said more details on these plans and steps to fix the country’s precarious public finances would be announced by Finance Minister Tito Mboweni when he delivered his Budget Speech in two weeks’ time.

President Cyril Ramaphosa delivers his State of the Nation address at Parliament in Cape Town on 13 February 2020. Picture: AFP

Gaye Davis | 47 days ago

CAPE TOWN - President Cyril Ramaphosa said that the government would set up a sovereign wealth fund so that the country’s people could share its wealth from natural resources.

He also said that the government was going ahead with establishing a state bank so that more South Africans could have access to financial services.

*IN FULL: President CyriL Ramaphosa's 2020 Sona

Ramaphosa said more details on these plans and steps to fix the country’s precarious public finances would be announced by Finance Minister Tito Mboweni when he delivered his Budget Speech in two weeks’ time.

Low economic growth means not enough tax revenue to cover government spending, sending debt levels soaring. Cyril Ramaphosa said that too much state spending was on consumption and interest on debt, rather than investments in infrastructure.

"We cannot continue along this path nor can we afford to stand still."

He said Mboweni would outline steps to cut government spending and make it more efficient in his Budget Speech later this month.

"We are engaged with labour and other stakeholders on measures we need to take to contain the public wage bill and reduce wastage."

Ramaphosa said that a key priority for this year was fixing commuter rail services, with R1.4 billion to be invested in both Cape Town’s Central Line and Pretoria’s Mabopane Line.

WATCH: What you need to know about President Ramaphosa's Sona 2020

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Sovereign wealth fund & state bank coming, Ramaphosa reveals in Sona

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