Political parties on Wednesday gave a cautious green light to Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan's Medium-Term Budget Policy Statement (MTBPS) tabled in the National Assembly.

The Democratic Alliance (DA) broadly welcomed the statement.

"We agree with the Minister that these are difficult times for the South African economy, but that by working tirelessly to improve the performance of the public sector, attract foreign investment, tackle corruption and advance prudent fiscal and monetary policy management, we can deliver the sort of growth that can create jobs and long-term economic prosperity," DA spokesperson Dion George said.

The most important aspect of the speech was the Minister's "utter eschewal of pressure" from the African National Congress's (ANC's) alliance partners, and those fellow members of President Jacob Zuma's Cabinet who advocated an array of populist interventions.

Gordhan appeared determined to continue to maintain the course he had charted in previous budgets.

"We applaud the renewed focus on addressing South Africa's unemployment crisis, and specifically the announcement of measures to support small businesses, and new measures to relax exchange control.

"We likewise welcome his steps to counter corruption in procurement processes."

The Minister also spoke about much-needed incentives for youth employment, George said.

The Inkatha Freedom Party's (IFP's) Narend Singh said that many critical challenges, such as unlocking faster job-fuelling growth, still remained.

"The IFP warmly welcomes the increase in spending on health -particularly for HIV/Aids prevention - the increase in spending on infrastructure, and the R50-million that has been set aside for drought relief," he said.

In addition, plans for better financial discipline in service delivery and improved management of education, health, and infrastructure programmes, were also welcomed.

"[But] The IFP recognises that South Africans aren't receiving value for their money," he said.

Freedom Front Plus leader Pieter Mulder said that Gordhan had, to a large degree, succeeded in maintaining a balance between financial restrictions that caused the recession and the demands placed on government spending.

Where Gordhan earlier this year predicted a growth rate of 2,3%, forecast had now been adjusted upwards to three percent for the year.

This was positive and indicated how the country was slowly moving out of the recession.

The African Christian Democratic Party (ACDP) also gave its "broad" support to the MTBPS.

"The ACDP supports the medium-term budget policy statement in broad terms, but will be closely monitoring the feasibility of government's new economic growth strategy announced [on Tuesday]," ACDP spokesperson Steve Swart said.

United Democratic Movement (UDM) leader Bantu Holomisa said that the party "concurs with the Minister of Finance's assessment that the economic outlook is grim".

Despite marginal improvements in economic indicators, it was definitely not yet time to celebrate the end of the recession.

The Congress of the People (Cope) acknowledged that there was some good news in the MTBPS - the decrease in the deficit, the increase in tax revenues, inflation being kept in check and lower interest rates, and practical steps taken in relation to tender fraud and corruption.

However, it found the MTBPS disappointing in other respects.

"... Where is the New Growth Path?" asked Cope spokesperson Phillip Dexter in a statement.

"... the statement is short on detail and does not clear up some fundamental issues of confusion. Among these is the debate around whether or not government will intervene to deflate the rand."

He added: "Crucial issues such as industrial policy, energy policy, the inefficient public services, near useless public enterprises and abject failure in terms of human resource development from basic education and even to some universities, continue to make any progress in terms of job creation and faster growth wishful thinking."

The Independent Democrats (ID) also welcomed the MTBPS, although with reservations.

"There are certainly some encouraging signs such as a higher than predicted growth rate for the year as well as a lower than expected budget deficit," said spokesperson on finance Lance Greyling.

"It is however concerning to the ID that despite the increase in the country's growth rate unemployment has risen to 25%.

"The ID was therefore expecting to hear more details regarding the new growth plan and precisely what resources would be directed to labour intensive sectors.

"The ID is also disappointed that the finance minister never referred to the wage subsidy for unemployed youth as we believe that this is a sign that the ANC government has no intention of implementing a measure which can have a huge impact in creating jobs."

The party was also concerned about the growth in public sector debt incurred by state owned enterprises, and singled out Eskom.

"Essentially we are mortgaging the country to build new power stations and all South Africans will be forced to shoulder the risk while mainly a handful of large energy intensive companies will reap the benefits from it," Greyling said.