Policy
Eskom - Lending a hand
Government will provide up to R60bn to support the financing of Eskom's investment programme, on terms structured to assist in meeting the power utility's cash flow needs.
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Industrial Policy - Win some, lose some
Trade & industry minister Mandisi Mpahlwa - after years of trying, and amid strong resistance most noticeably from finance minister Trevor Manuel - finally managed to secure some funding for industrial policy incentives.
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Industrial Policy - Doing good pays off
Charities again received some relief through the budget - or, to be more accurate, donors to charities did.
A significant change is a provision to allow employers to administer the tax deductions.
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Small Business - Making tax easier
Efforts to liberate SA's small business sector from the stranglehold of complex tax-related administration may have pushed the country into flirting with a whole new tax system. In his budget speech, finance minister Trevor Manuel introduced a "presumptive turnover tax" system for enterprises with a turnover of less than R1m. It is an alternative to the current income tax and Vat-based system for the sector.
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Retirement Savings - Funds get offshore boost
There were some pleasant surprises for retirement funds in the budget. One is that the offshore allocation is now 20% for retirement funds. The industry has been begging for a relaxation in exchange controls - institutional investors had been restricted to 15% of assets for many years, in terms of the Pension Funds Act - and Catherine Brown, director at Fifth Quadrant, says: "It will enable trustees to make decisions much more quickly."
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Exchange Controls - Monitors keep control
The change in name of the Reserve Bank's exchange control department - now called financial surveillance - may seem a bit like changing the airport from Jan Smuts to O R Tambo, but there is a difference. It heralds a softer regime whose role is to monitor rather than control cross-border flows of money.
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