NO ROOM TO FALL OR FAIL

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No national budget has ever mattered more to this country than that to be delivered to the nation tomorrow.

There are several big tests for this budget, no thanks to the mismanagement of national resources by the previous administration. 
In no particular order, the national priority test is one that the Minister of Finance, Neal Rijkenberg, cannot afford to fail.

We won’t know what these priorities are until tomorrow and the minister and his Cabinet colleagues will not hear the end of intense public scrutiny and condemnation if the priority list comes up short.

All eyes will definitely be on the highly paid security forces that have, for several years now, enjoyed the second largest share of the budget for reasons shrouded in secrecy. His Majesty the King, was bold and honest about our dire situation in Parliament and we hope the Finance minister can muster the courage of a lion from this.

Mr Rijkenberg’s budget will also have to pass the wage bill test. It is no secret that the high wage bill has contributed to the shelving of several capital projects to give way to more urgent and priority needs. These priorities had better fit the profile.
Granted he can’t please everybody with the little he has to work with, but the logic must be foolproof.

Taxation is also on everybody’s lips. Investors have turned away because we laid down the red tape instead of the red carpet when it comes to high tax and bureaucratic processes that sap the energy out of doing business in this country. 
SME’s are crying out for incentives to build a strong foundation of our economy.

In his briefcase, the Finance minister carries some of the directives from the Speech from the Throne, where His Majesty called for (once again) a realistic budget that speaks to what we can afford as a country and some HARD DECISIONS!. Fiscal prudence strategies will also have to be more than convincing.
Rising public perception that the budget is never pro-poor will be another important hurdle to overcome. Will he put more money in our pockets or will he pick-pocket us, is the burning question.

For a country with a public service that has watched commodity prices rise while their cost-of-living adjustment remains suspended, coupled with high unemployment, is a juggling act the minister should have perfected in the rundown to the big day. Hopefully he, or the balls he will be juggling, will not drop on the podium.

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