Making freedom work for SA.

(From Business Day (South Africa))

Byline: Temba Nolutshungu

CONSTRAINTS TO GROWTH/ Making freedom work for SA GOVERNMENT is reported to have identified six constraints preventing the South African economy from growing at the hoped-for rate of 6%: currency volatility, delivery, import-parity pricing, infrastructure backlogs, regulation and skills shortages.

The Economic Freedom of the World: 2005 Annual Report identifies a different set of problems. The most prominent are: excessive government consumption expenditure; government enterprises playing too large a role in the economy; top marginal tax rates that are too high; concerns over the integrity of the legal system; restrictions on owning foreign currency; restrictions on foreign-capital transactions; minimum wages that …