Today, as the country awaits the next update on the state of its public purse, the prospect of a debt crisis seems more imminent than before. This is as South Africa’s fiscal position has deteriorated markedly during the course of this year, a dilemma that could see the treasury inflicting another round of spending cuts.
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The choice to adopt austerity is not about protecting the state against capture — nor is it about realising untapped growth
The SACP says the finance minister’s proposed spending cuts are an inappropriate response the country’s economic problems
The ruling party’s economic transformation committee head, Mmamoloko Kubayi, said the treasury’s proposals were ‘unfortunate’, ‘illegal’ and a ‘tick-box exercise’
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The proposal suggested the bloated cabinet be cut and departments trim their expenditure
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Another round of spending cuts stand to shake the governing party’s already rickety foundations
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Like a household, new spending will be financed through tax increases or budget cuts
Nearly half of South African women are left out of the country’s labour force — and gender-friendly budgeting could fix that
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The state has to employ another one million people to match international standards
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This year’s budget will be a balancing act, but the treasury needs to prioritise restoring South Africans economic agency
Experts’ strategies for fixing the unemployment crisis range from devaluing the rand to a universal income grant or accepting debt from loans
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Economists predict the finance minister will speak about the basic income grant, the effect of the July riots on the fiscus, and bailouts
Ramaphosa needs to build broad political consensus if he is to have any chance of pursuing his fiscal and structural reform agenda
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Critics argue that South Africa’s latest submission to the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights is a unilateral and fraught exercise
The state faces a dilemma: it made a three-year wage agreement with public servants in 2018, before the pandemic, but reneging on it now will undermine labour’s trust
The finance minister has said it’s not an austerity project. But the numbers and economists disagree
It’s official. Austerity budgets may be here to stay. Here’s how South Africa should be working with what it’s got to provide healthcare.
Hyper-cartels now determine the global market, feeding the few and starving the many
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Experts warn state clinics and hospitals are likely to further deteriorate as the public purse shrinks.
Only two state cancer specialists remain in the province of more than 10-million people.
The new leaders want to ease the ‘humanitarian crisis’ – but Greece’s creditors are not impressed.
The election result marked a comprehensive rejection of the years of austerity demanded by the EU and IMF in return for the €240-billion bailout.
Failure to elect a new president will pit the ruling Samaras coalition against the popular radical left Syriza party.
The institution has failed to retract a document that neoliberal politicians and commentators are using to advocate state spending cuts.
Resentment is growing over German chancellor Angela Merkel’s leadership and fiscal austerity measures.
Plans of a second day of action in European cities.
The failure of the British experiment should prove the point made by IMF economists.
A renowned academic is adamant that austerity and deficit reduction will not aid a recovery.
Labour Day – or May Day – has triggered protests against harsh government spending cuts around the world, with some demonstrations turning violent.
Europeans are cutting down on Christmas shopping and pinching their pennies this festive season due to austerity measures.
Tens of thousands of people protested in London against the government’s austerity measures while union leaders called for a general strike.
Age-old tensions have resurfaces as the country buckles under harsh austerity measures.