Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) leader, Julius Malema, has called on the government to first exhaust all internal avenues to help save the country from the negative economic impact of the coronavirus before requesting funding from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank.
This follows a call from the African National Congress (ANC), the South African Communist Party (SACP), and Labour Federation Cosatu – earlier this month – for the Finance Ministry to avoid approaching the IMF or World Bank to financially assist South Africa in its fight against the coronavirus.
The tripartite alliance says this may subordinate the country’s sovereignty to the dictates of the IMF.
Malema was speaking in a televised Freedom Day message to the nation – amid events being cancelled due to the nationwide lockdown.
“The Reserve Bank cannot use further instruments other than the interest rates to allow more money into the economy. We are in a crisis and we should internally exhaust all avenues to save our country from the crisis before we rush to the IMF and World Bank. It is not true that the IMF and World Bank will not interfere with our independent sovereignty even when we owe them money. The South African Reserve Bank must play a far bigger role to making money available to government,” he says.
