PETER ATTARD MONTALTO: SA tumbles in a slow-motion crash

SA has never had macro-level austerity in any real sense in recent years. Expenditure has continued to grow even in real terms in ever year bar a small dip in 2016/2017. Indeed, expenditure this fiscal year will grow about 11.6% including the special appropriations bill.

This was the fallacy of the Pravin Gordhan years of fiscal “prudence”, which were driven off a noncredible view of long-term potential growth, backed up by analysts blindly accepting the paradigm...