Parliament to hold public hearings on DBSA Bill

8th July 2014 By: Sapa

Parliament to hold public hearings on DBSA Bill

Yunus Carrim
Photo by: Duane Daws

Parliament is to hold public hearings on the Bill that seeks to extend the mandate of the Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA) across the continent.

"We will give the Bill to independent experts. We need people who have technical expertise," chairperson of the finance portfolio committee, Yunus Carrim, said on Tuesday.

This followed a briefing on the legislation by Treasury officials, who sought to allay MPs' concern that it could expose the bank to excessive demand and risk.

"It is not as though South Africa is going about it blindly," said Lefentse Radikeledi, the Treasury's director for development finance institutions.

The bill provides for the increase of the bank's authorised share capital to R20-billion, and for the minister of finance to effect increases by notice in the Government Gazette.