South Africa: SA has a protein security problem and VAT exempting more foods won’t solve malnutrition

At the opening of Parliament, President Cyril Ramaphosa announced the government’s intention to expand the list of food items exempt from value-added tax (VAT) to provide greater protection and support to the most vulnerable in society.

But if that is the aim, then the means of achieving it needs to be reconsidered. What is required is deeper discounting, not wider, to substantially reduce the price of a more limited basket of high-protein staple foods that, with a couple of…