JOHANNESBURG - In spite of financial constraints, the Gauteng government said it was not giving up on its ambition to establish a state-owned bank and pharmaceutical company.
Like all provincial governments across the country, Gauteng has faced budget cuts, specifically in the equitable share and grants it receives from National Treasury. In a recent example of these cuts, Education MEC Matome Chiloane recently announced that it was possibly looking at cutting budgets for school learner transport and nutrition programmes to save money.
During a media briefing on Monday, Gauteng Finance MEC Lebogang Maile said that a state bank would be a net positive for the province’s economy. "A state bank is important. One of the problems in this country, it’s very difficult for small and medium enterprises to get loans to do their business. Finance is a big problem. You can't be a government that complains, that says finance is a problem and you don’t do anything about it. You need a bank that's going to be friendly and pro SMMEs and that's why you need a state bank and that state bank, it doesn’t mean we are going to own it 100%, It doesn’t make sense.