Speech by Deputy Finance Minister Nhlanhla Nene, MP On the ...

Let me take this opportunity to reflect on the changed context of developmenthere in South Africa and the wider region over the last two years. As aneconomy, we still face classical challenges of a developing economy: too fewresources chasing too many social and economic challenges. The need forfocus and prioritisation cannot be over-emphasised.While economic impairment arising from the financial crisis has not been of apermanent nature, the recovery from this requires conscious orchestration, anda focused approach, to avoid further regression, and to thereby ensure SouthAfrica takes the opportunity to be buoyed by global recovery.Despite the fact that the worst of the financial crisis and downturn is behind us, itremains a fact that the demand for resources is at its peak. Accordingly, theimperative for effectiveness has never been greater. Our considered view inGovernment is that, as the role of the state is strengthened to championdevelopment more vigorously, state-owned enterprises, including developmentbanks, will have a more critical role to play.The matter of the role and effectiveness of state owned enterprises (SOEs) anddevelopment finance institutions (DFIs) has been in the public discourse forsome time now. Objectively, the government seeks to eliminate poorgovernance and the wastage of resources where this is evident. It also seeks toensure the alignment of these key public institutions to the social and economicobjectives of Government.2