I AM not the only person, I am sure, who has put a great deal of thought into what they would do if they were finance minister for a day. And organised business is not the only sector of the community to have put together a pre-budget wish list to rival the constitution in its length.
In the year we celebrate 150 years of organised business in Nelson Mandela Bay, a clear business vision for its future competitiveness and sustainability has never been more crucial.
With both the national budget and the Eastern Cape provincial budget presented, organisations and individuals across the region are assessing their impact on businesses and their bottom lines, together with the effect of the announcements on citizens and their socio-economic circumstances.
On the whole, organised business received Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan's budget speech positively.
We found what we were looking for in the announcement of public infrastructure investment of R847-billion over the next three years.
That includes the Madupi power station coming online, Transnet's additional rail capacity, and spending on social infrastructure, particularly in the areas of health and education.
We are looking forward to seeing how the Nelson Mandela Bay metro can access and benefit from the R40-billion in infrastructure grants to local government for water, sanitation, energy and environmental functions.
We appreciate the immense focus on renewable energy projects that are under construction to increase power generation capacity, with more investment in the pipeline. The focus on long-term planning in the national budget was encouraging, and we welcome the numerous initiatives towards economic growth, such as:
ýThe Manufacturing Development Initiative, which allocates R10.3-billion over the next three years;
ýThe Economic Competitiveness and Support Programme, which will provide R15.2-billion to business to upgrade machinery and increase productivity; and
ýThe Special Economic Zones being allocated R3.6-billion to promote exports and generate jobs.
The Grant Thornton International Business Report, released recently, identifies a number of challenges hampering business growth in SA.
It makes for interesting reading, as the report appears to underscore many of the concerns cited by businesses here in Nelson Mandela Bay, and highlights many of the challenges being addressed by the Nelson Mandela Bay Civil Society coalition.
The biggest constraints cited by the business owners surveyed include red tape and overregulation.
Gordhan's commitment to the streamlining of regulatory and licensing approvals in the area of environmental impact assessments, as well as further steps to lower the cost of tax compliance, will make it easier to do business in this country.
The minister's focus on small business and entrepreneurship is welcome, as is the R6.6-billion to support small business, the easing of compliance burdens on small businesses, and the restructuring of the tax regimes.
We are heartened, once again, by the commitment to the payment of SMMEs within 30 days. But this commitment has to be enforced at a provincial and local level to have any real impact.
The business community is fully aware, I believe, of the challenges it faces and about what often may appear to be insurmountable obstacles.
Unemployment is going to persist if business is not allowed to thrive.
Poverty alleviation and job creation will remain a pipedream for as long as inefficient expenditure and corruption are allowed to continue.
The minister has shown a strong and steady hand and for this he must be commended.
His assurances that our government is committed to providing policy certainty to investors, with a holistic framework for investment flowing from the National Development Plan, is a bold step in the right direction.
It is a step that places investment at the centre of an economic growth plan, and a step that bodes well for future competitiveness and sustainability.