PDM member of parliament Nico Smit has said the mid-term budget review was a mere political statement by finance minister Ipumbu Shiimi and offered no practical solutions to the country’s economic troubles.
Smit was reacting to the mid-term budget which reallocated funds to various sectors out of a total N$841.6 million.
Shiimi painted a sobering picture of the global economy and the domestic economic meltdown, expressing hope that the economy will recover by next year.
Smit, however, countered that this could be far from the truth.
“ I have my reservations. Seriously, I think this was just a campaign speech. There are no resumptions in this speech, just a lot of promises. It is not possible to reach those promises.
“That the economy will grow next year is a daydream. It will not happen. It will get worse. This pandemic is still coming at us and we will really suffer and I think this is just a lot of hot air,” he said.
He added that it offered no real plan as to how the private sector will be supported to stir growth.
Smit said the minister has not been on point as to what he intends to do with the parastatals which have been a drain on funds.
A far bigger deficit than Shiimi predicts will be attained in the medium term, Smit said.
“Now they want to upgrade the railway-lines. I think the time of rail is something of the past and I can’t see how they intend to revitalize that but I think they have no plan. This was just hogwash,” he said.
