A thorough economic growth in Jozi is a mission possible in 2021, says Dagada
Nie Cele
Andile Zingitwa
Mayor Herman Mashaba congradulates MMC for Finance Rabelani Dagada after the city’s budget speech. Picture Enoch Lehung.
City’s finance MMC, Rabelani Dagada believes that his administration can achieve an all-encompassing economic growth in the next four years.
Speaking during his maiden budget speech, Dagada told the packed chamber that achieving goals set by his administration will not be easy task, particularly in the country’s present economic climate.
“Despite our poor economic climate, I believe that we can still take steps to ensure that Johannesburg is in a position to achieve a 5% economic growth rate by 2021 which will benefit all our residents, especially the poor.”
Dagada also warned that, A downgrade in the City’s credit rating could seriously hamper the Democratic Alliance (DA) led administration’s efforts to attain 5% economic growth rate target needed to stimulate job creation and improve service delivery by 2021.
The MMC also pointed out that 34% of the City’s Capital Budget is funded through long term debt and bonds and also revealed that Allocations within this Capital Budget are used to finance the City’s 10 year, R170 billion gap in capital infrastructure investment.
He also highlighted that ,Whether one likes it or not, the fortunes of the City are influenced by national economic shifts and political uncertainty.
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“A downgrade in our investment rating would thus raise the cost of debt, resulting in the City pouring more resources into servicing debt instead of servicing our residents”.
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However, He was confident that the DA administration will make the City of Johannesburg a competitive destination for investment.
“We will turn it into a place where businesses choose to come and set up, because of the ease of doing business and the reliability of services. We will make this City what it was always destined to be – the vibrant, diverse heartbeat of our country’s economy,” said Dagada.
