MTBPS: What organisations wish Godongwana to announce

Minister of Finance Enoch Godongwana will today deliver the 2024 Medium Budget Policy Statement (MTBPS).

The MTBPS plays an important role by providing a mid-year review of fiscal performance around the targets set in the February Budget, noting any reallocations or adjustments to spending that have become necessary since the Budget was approved.

The 2024 MTBPS is being presented amid a moderately improved economic outlook and the establishment of the Government of National Unity (GNU), which has pledged its commitment to prudent fiscal policy aimed at stabilising debt.

Here is the 2024 MTBPS wish list of some organisations:

• Board of Healthcare Funders (BHF):

1. Permitting medical schemes to offer low-cost benefit options. Currently, just over nine million South Africans belong to a medical scheme, with 68% coming from previously disadvantaged groups. The BHF estimates that an additional ten million people from low-income households could have access to private healthcare cover if medical schemes were permitted to offer low-cost benefit options (LCBOs). LCBOs are pared-down medical aid packages that offer essential primary healthcare services.
2. Empowering affordability through collective tariff negotiations. The second way that government could immediately address the high cost of private healthcare is to permit medical schemes to collectively negotiate tariffs and pricing with private healthcare providers and make the negotiated tariffs publicly available. This measure would mean transparency around pricing and empower consumers to compare differences between the mutually negotiated fee and the fee charged by a healthcare provider.

• Property Point:

• FEDUSA:

• UASA:

1. Address the global leading high levels of unemployment as a priority
2. Address persistent challenges hindering economic growth
3. Mitigate inflationary pressures
4. A sustainable plan for government expenditure and,
5. Viable solutions to tackle the energy and water crisis burdening households and businesses.

Free Market Foundation: Godongwana must cut the GNU down to size.

“We believe that there is scope for real reform after the 2024 general election, but it is incumbent on the government to turn goodwill into action,” said Martin van Staden, head of policy at the FMF. “The medium-term budget policy statement and the February 2025 budget are two of the last ‘easy’ opportunities the GNU will have to announce a reform agenda, before the expectation that the next five years will just be ‘more of the same’ is solidified.”

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