Management of public finances must continue to remain at the core of a capable and people-centred state.

South Africa continues to set the gold standard for budget transparency.

Citizens should be proud of the independent international recognition of being ranked first in the most recent 2017 Open Budget Survey, together with New Zealand.

We are grateful for the historical contributions of oversight institutions like Parliament and the Auditor-General towards this achievement.

Looking to the future, true to the South African budget reform approach, we are not seeking the easy way out and our efforts will not be superficial.

We are prioritising public participation.

We are taking National Treasury further to the people.

In partnership with a civil society coalition named IMALI YETHU (Our Money), we are investing the necessary resources to forge a genuine partnership in order to tackle very ambitious targets for public participation.

This partnership has given birth to vulekamali (Open! Money), an online budget data portal launched just yesterday aimed at making the use of all our budget information much easier.

We seek to build an active citizenry that engages in discussions that are meaningful, together with government, regarding service delivery and policies that affect every citizen.