Pretoria: The National Treasury, in collaboration with its partners, has announced the commencement of the third phase of the Southern Africa - Towards Inclusive Economic Development (SA-TIED) programme. This initiative reaffirms a collective commitment to basing South Africa's economic policy decisions on rigorous, co-developed evidence.
According to South African Government News Agency, SA-TIED represents a research-policy partnership involving the National Treasury, the South African Revenue Service (SARS), and the United Nations University World Institute for Development Economics Research (UNU-WIDER), with financial backing from the European Union and the United Kingdom's Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office. The programme, now in its third phase, aims to bridge the gap between research and policy implementation by integrating evidence directly within government systems and enhancing analytical capacity.
Phase II of the programme has made significant contributions by producing a substantial body of evidence that directly informs South Africa's policy priorities. Over 130 research papers have been published, with a significant proportion authored or co-authored by South African researchers and featuring women as authors or co-authors. Additionally, more than 200 participants, half of whom are from government, have been trained in advanced economic modelling, econometrics, spatial analysis, and data science, thereby building enduring skills.
Patricia Justino, the incoming UNU-WIDER Director, highlighted the importance of research in policy-making, stating that trust between research and policymaking is the foundation on which Phase III will be built. A notable achievement of Phase II is the growth of the National Treasury Secure Data Facility (NTSDF), a pioneering institution in the Global South that links anonymised administrative tax data. This facility has supported numerous researchers and has directly informed government policy outputs, serving as a model for responsible administrative data use worldwide.
SARS Deputy Commissioner Johnstone Makhubu emphasized SARS' strategic commitment to data-driven policymaking, noting the crucial role of tax administration data in research and economic policy design.
Research under the SA-TIED programme has addressed six core areas central to South Africa's development agenda. These include enterprise development for job creation and growth, public revenue mobilisation for inclusive development, structural transformation, labour markets and inequality dynamics, macro-fiscal analysis and policy modelling, food, energy, and water in the context of climate change, and reform implementation and delivery.
Looking ahead, Phase III, which will run from 2026 to 2029, aims to consolidate and expand on previous achievements. It will focus on strengthening the link between research and policy implementation, expanding access to administrative datasets, and building state capability through training, skills development, and greater integration of research within government. Additionally, Phase III introduces a new emphasis on public expenditure efficiency, reflecting the need for effective spending in a constrained fiscal environment.