Creamer Media Login

Godongwana warns of difficult budget next month

15th January 2024

Font size: - +

South Africa’s finance minister warned that next month’s budget will be a “difficult one” as the nation’s ability to service its growing debt remains a challenge.

Enoch Godongwana will table the annual budget in late February, when he will announce more details on the National Treasury’s plans to arrest ballooning debt, he told Johannesburg-based broadcaster Newzroom Afrika on Monday.

“Right now we have got a challenge because our growth levels are insufficient to be able to cope with higher levels of debt,” he said. “I will have more on this in the February budget next month. I can tell you now, we are operating in a fairly constrained fiscal space so the message we are likely to put across in February is going to be a difficult one.”

In his mid-term budget in November, Godongwana stressed the need to stabilize public finances and accelerate growth as the Treasury warned off a higher debt trajectory over the next two years. Ongoing power cuts and a logistics crisis continue to constrain economic growth in Africa’s most-industrialized economy.

Next month’s budget will come before South Africa’s general election that’s expected to take place by August, and in which the ruling African National Congress will fight to hold on to the national majority it’s had since coming to power three decades ago.

Edited by Bloomberg

Comments

The content you are trying to access is only available to subscribers.

If you are already a subscriber, you can Login Here.

If you are not a subscriber, you can subscribe now, by selecting one of the below options.

For more information or assistance, please contact us at subscriptions@creamermedia.co.za.

Option 1 (equivalent of R125 a month):

Receive a weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine
(print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
Receive daily email newsletters
Access to full search results
Access archive of magazine back copies
Access to Projects in Progress
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format

Option 2 (equivalent of R375 a month):

All benefits from Option 1
PLUS
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports, in PDF format, on various industrial and mining sectors including Electricity; Water; Energy Transition; Hydrogen; Roads, Rail and Ports; Coal; Gold; Platinum; Battery Metals; etc.

Already a subscriber?

Forgotten your password?

Click Here

MAGAZINE & ONLINE

➕

RESEARCH CHANNEL AFRICA

➕

CORPORATE PACKAGES

CLICK FOR A QUOTATION

➕