Bloomberg reports that Finance Minister Tito Mboweni apparently told an investment conference on Thursday that the Treasury would not back down on its insistence that any wage agreement for state workers must not breach the government’s fiscal ceiling.

He reportedly made the comments at a conference organised by the JSE, which was closed to the media. Mboweni angered trade unions in 2020 by reneging on a prior deal to raise wages for 1.3-million government workers. In February, he announced a three-year pay freeze in the public sector as part of plans to rein in government spending, reduce the budget deficit and stabilise debt. Unions, which are demanding increases of inflation, which averaged 3.3% in 2020, plus four percentage points, have threatened to strike. Mboweni also apparently said at the conference that he was not in favour of a basic-income grant and would prefer employment incentives. Social development minister Lindiwe Zulu said in May that a basic income grant proposal would be taken to the cabinet later in 2021. Mboweni’s spokesperson declined to comment on the minister’s remarks, but said a recording would be shared with the media later.

• Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Anthony Sguazzin at BusinessLive

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