The National Treasury is inviting members of the public to participate in pre-budget consultations in an effort to return public finances to a sustainable position through ongoing restraint in expenditure growth and implementation of structural reforms to support economic growth.
This forms part of a Fiscal Openness Accelerator (FOA) project, of which South Africa is one of five pilot and participating countries.
The FOA project was launched in 2019 by the International Budget Partnership and the Global Initiative for Fiscal Transparency.
The project’s overall objective is to build the technical capacity of selected governments, enhance fiscal transparency and to support the implementation of a public participation pilot in the national budget cycle.
Through public participation, government aims to enrich the national budget process and/or policy with inputs from nongovernment stakeholders and other relevant sectors towards better alignment of national government fiscal policies with citizens’ needs and concerns.
Additionally, the project aims to improve government practice and policy on public participation and close the feedback loop in the budget process, increasing government responsiveness and public accountability.
Comments by the public will be taken into consideration ahead of the 2021 Medium-Term Budget Policy Statement, which will allow for the opportunity to review South Africa’s policy position.
Following Treasury’s review of submissions, selected stakeholders may be invited to present their views on a panel of speakers for a virtual public meeting.
Interested parties can make written submissions by September 17 via this link.