The South African government’s failure to procure a Covid-19 vaccine and implement a rollout plan timeously has sparked rage throughout the country. Implementing a successful vaccine programme will ‘help cut short the pandemic and yield immense direct savings on medical resources’, says Jonathan Katzenellenbogen. However, this end goal is still quite some time away, with South Africa reportedly months behind other countries. So what are we as South Africans to do? Below, Katzenellenbogen outlines the situation the country finds itself in and expresses a possible solution – ‘putting the private sector in charge’.
– Jarryd Neves
By Jonathan Katzenellenbogen
The ANC has dropped the ball on vaccine procurement and rollout in a spectacular manner. By the day the signs have been mounting that our government dawdled and failed to do its homework. There is little evidence that a rollout on a massive scale can begin in the next few weeks.
What does SA s eroding income tax base mean for SARS? it-online.co.za - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from it-online.co.za Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Over the course of lockdown, pundits have shared some harrowing statistics regarding the increase in unemployment in South Africa. In general, our unemployment rates are moving in the wrong direction and the affected households have suffered great hardship as a result, but it is important to understand what this means for our tax base and our growing budget deficit. The statistics The University of Cape Town’s (“UCT”) Liberty Institute of Strategic Marketing has used the National Income Dynamics Survey (“NIDS”) to paint a picture of the number of adults living in households by income band (“the survey”). The survey uses six bands of income and compares the figures of 2017 with that of June 2020, per the below diagram:
South African resident individuals and companies - loop
structures
Following the Minister of Finance s announcement in the 2020
Medium Term Budget Policy Statement and in order to support South
Africa s growth as an investment and financial hub for Africa,
it is advised that the full loop structure restriction
has been lifted to encourage inward investments into South Africa;
subject to the normal criteria applying to inward investments into
South Africa and the reporting to the Financial Surveillance
Department.
This reform is effective from 2021-01-01 and applies to private
individuals and companies, including private equity funds that are
tax resident in South Africa.
South Africa’s economic revival will largely depend on these actions
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Expediting South Africa’s access to vaccines, cutting borrowing costs, and making tough political and economic decisions are some actions that can be taken to improve policy uncertainty in the country.
This is according to professor Raymond Parsons from the North-West University Business School, who on Monday (11 January), highlighted some of the key findings in the latest Policy Uncertainty Index (PUI) for Q4 2020.
The professor pointed out that South Africa has faced a double challenge: to contain and manage Covid-19 outbreaks while simultaneously implement policies and projects to promote sustainable inclusive growth.