Poverty, job creation, promoting economic growth and broad-based empowerment should remain the primary priorities for the medium-term budget policy statement to be introduced by finance minister Trevor Manuel in Parliament on Tuesday, the DA said Sunday.

Democratic Alliance chief whip Ian Davidson said in a statement that with inflation upwards of 13 percent and economic growth already estimated by some private sector sources to be hurtling down to 2.8 percent of GDP next year, it was clear that the poor, whether unemployed, or employed in the informal or formal sectors, were most at risk and that potential investors and entrepreneurs were most likely to be discouraged.

Social welfare

"The Democratic Alliance would therefore welcome as great an increase in social welfare assistance to the poor as can be made available without sacrificing important pillars of growth - such as the maintenance of a small budget surplus and keeping the commitment to a fixed inflation target band," Davidson said.

"The DA wishes Minister Manuel well for what could be his final mid-term budget policy statement and trusts that the he and the government will use this auspicious occasion to signal a firm commitment to economic policy continuity, and the prioritisation of economic growth as the only key to reducing the massive inequalities that still bedevil our society."