In this instalment of The Fiscal Cliff – a Mail & Guardian series on how South Africa’s budget has been shaped – Sarah Smit considers the intimate link between the country’s ultra-high unemployment rate and austerity
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The minister underlined that in the wake of efforts to grow the economy, the government must respect budget constraint
The choice to adopt austerity is not about protecting the state against capture — nor is it about realising untapped growth
Ten years after its adoption, the government has failed to achieve the targets set out in the National Development Plan. Looming spending cuts will render the NDP even more futile
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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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Head of treasury’s budget office Edgar Sishi said fiscal consolidation will have to be extended by at least another two years
Mining windfall helped SA’s financial position, but lower revenues and additional spending will delay the end of fiscal consolidation
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The finance minister’s commitment to toeing the line may send positive signals to ratings agencies, but at what cost?
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However, the treasury still expects the country to achieve a main budget surplus from this year onwards
The ruling party has repeated its proposal to nationalise the central bank’s ownership and mandate, but says it must be done in a way that is conscious of costs
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With the economy in crisis, worsened by load-shedding, the fiscus must be more responsive
Labour has been on the receiving end of a failing economy’s onslaught, giving a business-friendly government the upper hand
Like a household, new spending will be financed through tax increases or budget cuts
The Reserve Bank governor has cautioned against ‘reckless’ fiscal and monetary policies amid global shocks
Fiscal consolidation is drawing to a close as the public purse was boosted by commodities, but the treasury will probably continue exercising restraint
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The minister’s medium-term budget policy statement had to balance the fiscal risk of state-owned entities and the threat their collapse posed for the economy
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This is as a strike looms in the public sector after some unions have rejected the government’s offer of a 3% wage hike
The finance ministry confirmed that it is still mulling whether and how to replace the interim measure with a basic income grant
The state is set to achieve a primary budget surplus a year earlier than expected
Eskom, Transnet and the public sector wage bill will feature large in next week’s medium-term budget policy statement
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Workers are in the throes of a cost of living crisis, which could force the government to fold on its hard line against more spending
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Last month’s budget was positive about the trajectory of the economy but near-term growth projection are only slightly higher than during South Africa’s darkest years
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The treasury is meeting rating agencies that identified the public service compensation as a threat to South Africa’s credit outlook
The private sector, experts say, cannot alone be entrusted with the important task of stopping South Africa’s unemployment tailspin
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Covid-19 cast the economy adrift, but a less punishing new phase of the pandemic could set it back on track
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Treasury officials will model the effect of the grant on the fiscus if the need arises
The new finance minister has a difficult task, but analysts say his political capital will help him hold a hard line on state spending
The South African Reserve Bank governor believes the state has to spur growth, restore the country’s public finances and arrest debt to escape the economic slump
The finance minister has said it’s not an austerity project. But the numbers and economists disagree