TIISETSO MOTSOENENG: Fiscal reform or fantasy? — Treasury’s high stakes gamble on discipline
Proposal suggests introducing benchmarks such as a debt ceiling or fiscal sustainability principles
17 March 2025 - 05:00
SA is teetering on a precipice. Years of fiscal drift, deepened by sluggish economic growth, soaring unemployment and rising debt-service costs have pushed us into an unsustainable trajectory.
For evidence, take a cursory glance at last week’s Budget Review. The budget shortfall would amount to about R600bn, or 5% of GDP. Gross public debt, a widely watched measure of a country’s financial health by ratings agencies and investors in government bonds, will peak at about R6-trillion, or 76% of GDP. That ratio was under 25% in 2009...
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