National Budget Reviewed During Discussions at UNIZULU

The Department of Economics at the University of Zululand (UNIZULU) hosted a Post budget review debate following the recent national budget announcement and to enable participants to share views on the 2024 National Budget.

This event included a post-budget analysis, offering insights and discussion about the presented budget’s implications. In attendance were Faculty members from the Faculty of Commerce, Administration and Law as well as Students interested in public policy, economics, and finance. This Post budget dialogue enabled participants to share their views on the National Budget.

Mthuthuzeli Qwabe, a Master’s Student in Economics gave a presentation on the 2024 national Budget. The aim of his presentation was to help his peers to understand the purpose of the budget speech delivered by the Minister of Finance, give an overview of the South African Economy, and analyse the budget ‘s effects on ordinary citizens.

The Deputy Dean, Research and Internationalisation, Professor Irrshad Kaseeram, who is also an Economist said debates such as these are vital because the Budget is of national interest, and everyone needed know how it affected them.

The programme included Vigorous conversations which ensued during a panel discussion. Amongst the panellists were Professor D D Tewari, Dr H Maduku and Ms S Nene who helped with insights and analysis of the budget. They also unpacked and focused on the growth of the country’s economy and other socio-economic issues such as inequality, poverty, and unemployment. The implications of protracted loadshedding and energy sustainability were also on the table.

Students were not shy in tackling topics ranging from the soundness of the budget that was delivered, state of the South African Economy, high levels of unemployment, corruption and the increase in taxes affecting consumers.

Prof Tewari highlighted that on the budget speech there was too much spending, however it is not clear where the money is going to come from, “yes we have the government tapping into the Gold and Foreign Exchange Contingency reserves account, will that be enough to cover the increase on the expenditure?” said Prof Tewari.

The discussion was enlightening and vital, especially for Economics students.

Prof S Zhou the Head of Department highlighted that insightful contributions were received from both presenters (panel discussants) and the floor.

He also pointed out, “As a department, this is the first of many similar engagements that we have planned, and we look forward to full participation of our students who we believe are co-creators of knowledge and stand to contribute immensely to the national economics discourse.” Concluded Prof Zhou.

• Precious Shamase