The South African government will not borrow money to bail out state-owned enterprises (SOEs), Finance Minister, Nhlanhla Nene, said on Thursday.

“Any potential support given to State Owned Enterprises will be budget neutral. If required, balance sheet support will come from disposal of non-strategic assets,” Nene said.

He was speaking at a breakfast meeting at the American Chamber of Commerce on Johannesburg where he had to tell the guests what the government planned to help lift the ailing economy.

SOEs, particularly the Land Bank, the South African Airways (SAA) and the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC), have been draining the government coffers as they are considered the major beneficiaries of regular bailout schemes.

“Our second main thrust is to crowd in private investment. The past 5 years have seen investment rise to nearly 20 percent of GDP, buoyed by a doubling of public sector spending on infrastructure. While public investment has been resilient, private investment has remained subdued since the onset of the global financial crisis beginning 2008,” Nene said.

“By creating a platform for action, government strategic framework for the next five years bolsters policy coherence, alignment and coordination across government. Importantly, most priorities of the five-year MTSF are financed within the prevailing three-year medium-term expenditure framework. Because when you have a plan without a budget, the budget becomes the plan,” he added.

During his medium term budget speech, Nene revised economic growth figures for this year to 1.4 percent from 3.6 percent in 2011.